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Tag - Internet

Digital Footprint

In 2018, the world passed the mark of 4 Billion Internet users, making half of the world’s population Internet users. With half of the world’s population online, it has become critical to manage the cyber information as well as security. Many giant tech companies are nowadays engaged in finding solutions for cyber threats which affect Internet users, because it has become a crucial factor for  half of the world’s population. Everyone who cares about their confidential data thinks of creating a shield for their data, to prevent it from being exposed to unauthorized parties. However, it has become challenging with rapid technological development.

What is digital footprint?

Footprints are the trails we leave behind when we walk, allowing someone to follow us with the help of them. Active Internet users have practised to use Internet for their daily activities, get information from the Internet and add their data to achieve something. So, Digital footprints are the records and traces we leave behind when we use the Internet.

How do we create digital footprints?

There are 2 types of digital footprints: active digital footprints and passive digital footprints.  A “passive digital footprint” is a data trail you unintentionally leave online, the data like visited web sites, your clicks, your preferences etc. An “active digital footprint” includes data that you intentionally submit online, such as forms, online surveys etc. You can not forget your social media accounts, because they directly help to sharpen your digital footprint with massive amount of your personal data. Simply, this emphasizes that your trails are the data you leave behind in your online journey.

What are the activities related to digital footprint ?

If digital footprints are the data trails, what are the activities related to those trails? That is the question suddenly flashes in our mind with the term digital footprint.

In most scenarios someone can follow your path with the help of your footprint and this is applicable to digital means also. Someone can follow your online journey and track you by sniffing your digital footprint. Then you will be under the surveillance of someone else. Which means the tracker has the ability to inspect what you do, what your preferences are and also your personal stuff. And sometimes it may result in a fake identity of you, where someone else pretends to be you. That is one of the few threats related to digital footprint which can result in major security breaches.

Sometimes a digital footprint may be advantageous too. When you are in an interview, your digital footprint can act as a CV of yours, because it shows the trails you left behind in your online journey ( your online activities, contributions, forums, blogs etc.) This is an advantage only if you have shaped your digital footprint in a favorable way, if not you are done with your interview.

Can someone else shape your digital footprint?

This can be answered by another question. Are you the only one posting things related to you? If no, the answer to the previous question is yes because someone else can shape your digital footprint by adding their own input. Normally, many organization have your data, your friends and family members add data related to you. Therefore your footprint can often be shaped by someone else other than you.

How to control your digital footprint?

There are many threats related to digital footprints. So you have to be conscious about your digital footprint in order to keep those threats in distance. Otherwise someone can even sniff your credit card details, your identity, your location, and even you can be a product of some data sellers out there.  You can control your digital footprint for a certain extent. Here are few steps that you can follow to reduce your digital footprint.

  1. Use Private browsing or Incognito mode available in your browser for suspicious websites.
  2. When you login to a website or an app using your social media accounts, always check the permissions they’re requesting.
  3. Do not directly click on the links you get via emails. Copy-paste it to your browser address bar preferably in private browsing mode.
  4. Clean your cookies and cache files frequently to protect your personalised data from trackers and data scrapers.
  5. Do not submit your financial information in online forms, always try to use a payment gateway.
  6. Do not submit or share your login credentials, and also change them often.
  7. Do not post things that reveal too much or unnecessary information about you.
  8. Be sure and accurate about what you say online.

These precautions can be used to control your digital footprint and to reduce bad effects due to digital footprint.

In conclusion, a digital footprint is the data trail you leave behind. It helps to collect more personalized data by someone in need and this can be both advantageous and disadvantageous. So it is better to manage your digital footprint and try to shape it according to your own will. It will be not that easy but you can reduce the potential threat and increase the relevance.


ඔබගේ නිවසේදී/කාර්‍යාලයේදී ඇතිවන අන්තර්ජාල සම්බන්ධතා ගැටළු විසඳ ගන්නා අයුරු

අප බහුතරයක් දෙනා  අන්තර්ජාලය බිඳ වැටීමකදී විමසිලිමත්ව සොයා නොබලා අන්තර්ජාල සේවා සපයන්නා ඇමතීම බොහෝ විට දක්නට ලැබේ. එමෙන්ම ආයතනයක නම් තොරතුරු තාක්ෂණ නිළදාරියා වෙත ගැටළුව යොමු කරයි. නමුත්  පමණක් ගැටළු ඔබටම විසඳා ගත හැකිය. නැතිනම් ඔබේම නොසැලකිලිමත් කම හේතුවෙන් මෙම ගැටළු පැන නැගිය හැක. Read More

ඔබ අන්තර්ජාලය හරහා භාණ්ඩ හා සේවා මිලදී ගැනීමට පෙර සැලකිලිමත් විය යුතු කරුණු

මෑතකාලය වන විට අප බොහෝ දෙනා එදිනෙදා අවශ්‍ය වන භාණ්ඩ හා සේවා අන්තර්ජාලය ඔස්සේ මිලදී ගැනීමට පුරුදු වී සිටියි. මුල්කාලයේදී Ebay, Ali Express වැනි විදේශිය මිලදී ගැනීම්ද වර්ථමානය වන විට දේශීය වෙළඳපොළද ඉදිරියට පැමිණ ඇත. ඒ අතර Wow, Takas, Daraz ඉතා ප්‍රචලිත වී ඇත. දිනෙන් දින අන්තර්ජාල මිලදී ගැනීම් ඉහත යන වෙළදපොල තුල ඔබ දැන සිටිය යුතු කරුණු කිහිපයක් ඇත.

 

 

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WhatsApp Backup එක PC එකට Download කරන්නේ මෙහෙමයි

whatsapp

කවුරුත් නොදන්න දෙයක් තමයි මේ දේ, Google drive එකේ Save වෙලා තියෙන WhatsApp Backup එක සාමාන්‍ය ක්‍රමයට Download කරන්න නොහැකි වුනත්, Download කරන්න ක්‍රමයක් තියෙනවා. මේ මගින් ඔයාගේ WhatsApp Images, Documents හා සියළුම දේ ඔයාගේ PC එකට Download කරගන්න පුළුවන්.

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Mobile Data Save කරගන්න අපෙන් උපදෙස්

mobile phone tips

බහුතරයක් දුරකථන සමාගම් වලට බනින කාරණයක් තමයි, Mobile Data ඉක්මණින් ඉවර වීම. ඒ වගේම භාවිතා නොකරම Data කපනවා කියන එක. ඒත් ඇත්තටම මොකද වෙන්නේ කියලා හොයලා බැලුවද?  නැතිනම් මේ ටිකත් කරලා බලන්න.

 

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Wi-Fi ට වඩා 100 ගුණයක් වේගවත් Li-Fi තාක්‍ෂණය

අපගේ මේ සූදානම Li-Fi හට සත්‍ය ලෙසම අපගේ අන්තර්ජාල වේගය අධිබලගැන්වීමට අවශ්‍ය කරුණු කාරණා තිබේදැයි සොයා බැලීමටයි. ඊට ප්‍රථමයෙන් Li-Fi පිළිබඳ නොදන්නා අය සඳහා ඒ ගැන සුළු හැඳින්වීමක් කරමු.

Li-Fi යනු Light Fidelity යන පෙළ සඳහා වන කෙටි යෙදුමකි. Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) තාක්‍ෂණයේදී භාවිතා වන තරංග වර්ගයට ගුවන් විදුලි සහ ක්‍ෂුද්‍ර යන තරංග වර්ග දෙක අතර සංඛ්‍යාතයක් ඇත. එසේ භාවිතයට හේතුව ද ගුවන් විදුලි සහ ක්‍ෂුද්‍ර තරංග වලින් සිදුවිය හැකි බලපෑමයි. කෙසේ වුවද මෙම Li-Fi තාක්‍ෂණයේදී භාවිතා වන තරංග වර්ගය නම් සරලවම දෘෂ්‍ය ආලෝකයයි. දෘෂ්‍ය තරංග පරාසය තෝරාගැනීමට, ගුවන්විදුලි තරංග පරාසයේ ඇති තදබදය ද හේතුවක් වූවා විය හැක. එහෙත් Li-Fi තාක්‍ෂණයේ ප්‍රබලම වාසිය එහි සුපිරි වේගයයි. නවතම සොයාගැනීම් වලට අනුව පෙනීගොස් ඇත්තේ මෙම Li-Fi හට Wi-Fi ව ද ප්‍රතිස්ථාපනයට තරම් බලයක් ඇති බවයි. මේ සියල්ල ඇරමුනේ Vemenni නම් සමාගමක් Li-Fi තාක්‍ෂණයෙන් ක්‍රියාත්මක වන කුඩා පරිමාණයේ විදුලි බල්බයක් නිර්මාණය කිරීමත් සමගයි. Read More

SLT Ramps up the speed of their internet packages

SLT (Sri Lanka Telecom) is making a habit of changing their broadband packages on the New Year, as a gift. Last year they changed the quota of the packages. This year they increased the capped speed. Basically they doubled the speed of the 2 Mbps , 4 Mbps and 8 Mbps packages. It is good to see the broadband companies in Sri Lanka actively trying to keep up with the customer requirements. However it must be noted that the benefit of this change would be seen in mostly for the customers with the 2 Mbps package. This is due to the fact that for users on the other packages, who were not hitting their top speed, will not see a difference. A quota increase would have been more valuable for the customers, but nonetheless for those who see a speed increase, it would be a good start to the New Year.

Free Dialog Wi-Fi for a Month

Dialog has launched a free Wi-Fi promotion where Dialog users can obtain free Wi-Fi for a month. In the fine print it states that it provides 1 GB data for 30 days. To obtain this free offer, users have to register here, and the promo password will be sent through SMS.

This seems to be an initiative to popularise Wi-Fi, as most Sri Lankans are used to using mobile data over Wi-Fi. Also people would get to know the available hotspots in their near vicinity. Wi-Fi could be accessible through the 2500+ hot spot network. So go ahead to your nearest Wi-Fi hotspot and make use of this free offer.

Milestones of 25 years of the internet – Infographic

The Internet, as we know it has changed our lives in more ways than one. From simple communication, to how we consume media it has totally revolutionized the way of the world. With the internet turning 25 years this month, we thought of looking at the key milestones in its incredible journey. So take a look down the memory lane of the internet. Infographic credits to eibDigital.

25-years-of-internet

What is the Internet?

What is the Internet ? Simply speaking the Internet is inter connected networks sharing information using standard protocol stack. However the modern internet is much more than inter connected networks. The Internet has become platform rapid and accelerated human evolution. It has been invaded into every aspects of our lives making both positive and negative consequences.

In despite of advancement in technologies and impact on our lives, fundamentally speaking the Internet is an inter connected networks even after 30 years from its birth. Computer networks depend on two different kind of protocols for traffic propagation.

1. Routed Protocols

2. Routing Protocols

TCP/IP is the well known “routed protocol” used in modern networks. It is also responsible for majority of global Internet traffic. It can carry almost any kind of internet based services including but not limited to world wide web, electronic mail, secure connectivity and streaming media. On the other hand, “Routing Protocols” provide path to propagate TCP/IP and similar transports (e.g. UDP, ICMP).

Well known routing protocols are OSPF, IS-IS, EIGRP, RIP and BGP. All the routing protocols (except BGP, which we are going discuss later) provide reachability information for each other networking hop so end hosts can reach remote service at network address. RI or reachability information is passed to each networking hop so individual hop can take the decision on packet switching towards remote service.

Reachability

So what is the uniqueness in the BGP? Instead of passing reachability information from hop to hop, BGP passes reachability information from network to network basis. BGP a.k.a Border Gateway Protocol is the de-facto routing protocol of the Internet. We can not have working Internet without BGP.

Individual network can consist of hundred of thousands of network devices. Each and every network is managed, administrated and operated by independent autonomous entities. These autonomous entities could be either ISP (i.e. Internet Service Provider) or Company/Organization/Government participate in data origination and trafficking.

Real world connectivity

Similar to network addresses are assigned to individual network hop, BGP introduces numbering mechanism for each independent network. These numbers are called “Autonomous System Number”.  Worldwide ASNs are assigned by “Internet Assigned Numbers Authority” or IANA through “Regional Internet Registries” or RIR. The word “Autonomous” in ASN emphasizes autonomy in decision making inside individual network. However, Inter Autonomous System connectivity policies must be mutually agreed between connected parties.

In summary, the Internet is highly autonomous networks inter connected to create global information super highway. Absolute autonomy can be expected inside individual network in related to traffic propagation policies and paths. This autonomy secure the Internet’s distributed architecture while preserving freedom of the information propagation between networks.

Last but not least, Let’s look into few real world examples for Autonomous System interactions in the Internet.

Sri Lanka Telecom ASN

Sri Lanakn Airlines ASN

Facebook ASN

Sri Lankan ASNs

All the links provided above are information/learning purpose only and accuracy is not guaranteed.

All you need to know about Dialog Mobile LTE

Not long after successfully bidding for the LTE frequency, Dialog launched its Mobile LTE network few weeks back. This enables 4G network on supported mobiles and USB LTE modems. Lets take a look at some of the aspects of this new service

 

Frequency

The frequency band used is 10 MHz from the 1800 MHz band. The 1800 MHz band is currently the most used frequency band for LTE deployment around the world. The 700 MHz band would have provided better coverage, but seems free bands on it were not available.

 

Coverage

The Mobile LTE coverage is currently available in the Colombo 1 – 15 area. Since the frequency band used is in the 1800MHz range, the indoor penetration of the signals would be less than in the case where the 700MHz band was used. However since there wont be large number of users initially, even with marginal signals one should be able to get good speeds.

 

Speeds

As the frequency bandwidth is 10MHz, theoretically one would be able to reach upto 50 Mbps speeds. However 20-30 Mbps would be the practically achievable speeds. This might also vary according to the bottlenecks in the server you are accessing and also the device category.

 

Supported Devices

You would require a FD-LTE 1800 MHz Band 3 compatible handset or a dongle to be able to use Dialog mobile LTE. The dongle currently available through Dialog is the Huawei E398U which is priced at Rs. 16,000. That is quite a price for an USB modem. The price of these type of units directly depends on the quantity in the production line. Since the demand is still less for these devices, the number of units manufacture in batches are low and hence the high price.

Only a few mobile LTE supported mobile phones are currently available in the market, although this number would increase significantly by the end of the year. Please check below for some of the supported mobile phones available in Sri Lanka.

  • Samsung I9305 Galaxy S III
  • Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100
  • Sony Xperia V
  • Sony Xperia Z
  • LG Optimus G

(Note: Mobile LTE is not supported on Apple devices have not enabled the service for Sri Lanka)

 

Use cases

Dialog Mobile LTE would be used less for personal broadband data as the price of the dongle is high. The dongle would be more appropriate for an office use, where it is used to create a Wi-Fi Zone.

In the initial stages Mobile LTE would be used more in phones. Streaming HD video would be a main usage. With the large HD displays on the supported handsets, watching HD videos would be a treat. Browsing and email would also be a breeze with 4G , and if needed one can always generate a hotspot from the phone for a high speed WiFi.

 

What do you need to start using Dialog Mobile LTE?

You will need a supported device (phone or dongle) and a 4G enabled SIM which you need obtain from a Dialog outlet for Rs. 150. Also you would need a postpaid connection as it is still not available for prepaid.