unclassified internet safety and search techniques
TRANSCRIPT
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Internet Safety and Search Techniques
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Primary Objective
Given this course material and internet safety tools, participants will be able to conduct safe research and apply advanced search techniques. Participants will apply internet research tools and analysis techniques to refine academic research.
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Evaluating Internet Sources
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For USG Official Use Only
Internet Analysis
Internet has experienced an astronomical increase in the use of
specialized content delivery systems, such as content delivery
networks and peer-to-peer file sharing systems. Therefore, an
understanding of content delivery on the Internet now requires a detailed understanding of how
these systems are used in practice
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What is WWW Information?
Publicly available
Editable materials, personal sites, business, government, friendly and un-friendly sites.
With a web browser, one can view web pages that may contain text, images, videos, and other multimedia and navigate between them via hyperlinks.
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Step #1: Research
There are four very important questions you should answer before engaging in internet
research:
1. Who are you trying to engage?
2. What communication tools are you using?
3. Where are you getting the information?
4. How are you vetting your internet sources?
For USG Official Use Only
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Step #2: Understanding the tools
Based on the answers to the previous questions you then can take a look at your options, including:
1. Traditional Media Radio
Newspaper
Television
Press Release
2. Social Media Social Networks
Mobile
Online Chats
Blogs
Virtual Worlds
Wikis
3. Web siteFor USG Official Use Only
When deciding to use a internet site/tool make sure it has Terms of
Service agreement and “about us” link. It is ok to use a tool without Terms of
Service in place, but it is important that a site must have an “about us” link.
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Step #3: Resources
Internet/World Wide Web (WWW) Use the internet to conduct preliminary searches
Use links that looks valid and credible
Use a librarian to ask for safe sites/links
Use online resources .edu; .gov; .org
Network with colleagues
Field researchExample: Sit in a café and observe how people are interacting
with others. Are they text messaging? Are they on Facebook on their computers? You can learn a lot from life study observations.
For USG Official Use Only
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Step #4:Putting the answers into action
When conducting internet research you must have a plan.
1. What are your objectives?
2. What are you trying to achieve?
3. Who are you engaging?
4. Why?
5. How do they communicate?
6. Which tools do they use?
For USG Official Use Only
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Be aware before using social media
1. Legal issues
2. Privacy Read the Privacy Terms for more information
3. Records management Check with the librarian for additional information
4. Security
5. Accessibility
For USG Official Use Only
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Benefits
Ask yourself:
What am I going to get out of using these tools?
Make sure to list your reasons!
For USG Official Use Only
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QUESTIONS?
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Internet Persona
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The World Wide Web–Online Footprint
Who sees you (your IP) on the Internet
Website Administrators
Security Personnel
Internet Service Providers
Proxy Sites
Records that can be retained indefinitely
Computer Configuration (e.g. browser, operating system, Internet Services)
A profile of your interests based on surfing habits
Patterns about subjects and searches of interest
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Persona–What it is & What It Reveals
Identifies:Where you appear to connect from
Who you say you are when accessing sites
Reveals:Type and version of your operating system and browser
Your Internet Service Provider Name
Email Verification
Your time zone and location
Your organizational affiliation
Cookies
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Who Does It Reveal This To?
EVERY WEB SERVER
EVERY WEB PAGE
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Internet Persona Concerns
Should you be concerned about:
Searches on sensitive topics that reveal organization interest?
Accessing personal accounts to perform research or while performing research?
Research on foreign sites?
Don’t Do it!
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Anonymizer–What is It?
A tool that attempts to make activity on the internet untraceable
Accesses the Internet on the user's behalf to try and protect personal information by hiding the source computer's identifying information
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ARE NOT ENTIRELY SECURE
Capable of man in the middle attacks
Cannot filter out malicious code that may reveal the identity of user
Present a high value target to opponents
Anonymizers–Things to Consider
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Cookies–What are they?
Small text files stored on the hard drive and used to recognize a user when the return to a particular site
May contain a wide range of information about previous visits to a web site
Can be used to track surfing habits and to build a demographic profile
Remember: Clear your Cookies after every search topic!
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Cookies–The Reality
Cookies cannot:
Give your computer a virus
Access anything on the hard drive
Cookies can allow personal and organizational information to be:
stored - the more information given the more information accessible
accessed by/sold to third parties without consent or knowledge
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Online Threats–Spyware/Adware
Spyware
collects demographic and usage information and sends the information to a third party
usually bundled as a hidden component of freeware and shareware applications
Adware
A software package or application that automatically plays, displays, or downloads advertisements
often bundled into other software - user may be unaware it is being downloaded and installed
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Online Threats–Phishing
“Faking” a webpage or online form to deceive the user into taking action to their detriment, for example:
Visiting a rogue site
Loading software or running an application
Slightly modifying the name of a website or the domain extension
To reduce the risk:
Directly type in website address
Don’t click on a link in an email
Look up URLs carefully and verify authenticity
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Online Threats–Malicious Code
Viruses
Transfers malicious code to other programs or files by
modifying or “infecting” them
Typically requires human interaction to initiate
• May be designed to activate on a certain date or
when specified conditions occur
Typically downloaded inadvertently, for example by
opening an e-mail message attachment
Often in the form of executable files or embedded in
Microsoft Word macros
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Online Threats–Malicious Code
Trojan Horses
Malicious code that does something other than, or in
addition to, what the victim expects
• May use a clever name to disguise its true
purpose,
• Possibly embed the malicious portion within a
desirable program, such as a computer utility
Often imported via email attachments
Typically requires the user to run the program
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Online Threats Countermeasures
Virus protection
Set automatic operating system security updates
Know who has access to the network, system, site, or page
Delete cookies often
Change browsers often
Do NOT provide or use any personal information when conducting open source research
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Email–Things to Consider
Do:
Use an approved pseudonym to create a work only email account – change account every quarter or six months
Delete e-mail from unrecognized senders
Log in ONLY from work
Do not:
Interact with users from sites you are collecting from
Send emails to government or work affiliated sites
Conduct personal business
Create mailing lists of colleagues unless authorized
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Online Searches–Things to Consider
Search engines retain the terms you search on
Intermittently search for unrelated topics
Use multiple search engines
Do NOT click on a link from a search result – copy and paste it into another window
Do NOT use classified search terms
Protect yourself (personally and professionally)
The less information online – the better
Don’t search on your name and your organization
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Social Networks–Things to Consider
If you access social networking sites to conduct open source research and collection – Do not use personal account
Never comment or post:
Material that affiliates you with your organization
Information obtained through official business
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QUESTIONS?
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Internet Research and
Google Techniques
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Googlebot - Web crawler that finds and fetches web pages
Indexer - Sorts every word on every page and stores the resulting index of words in a huge database
Query processor, which compares your search query to the index and recommends the documents it considers most relevant
How Google Works
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How Google Works (cont)
PageRank - How Google “Recommends” Results
Over a hundred factors in computing PageRank
Numeric value representing importance of that page. More links to a page the more important (and Google believes
relevant) the page
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Google ignores punctuation, except in: Popular terms (C++; C#)
Search operators
Capitalization does not matter, except in: Search operators (site: not SITE)
Remember - No spaces before or after colons!
Google General Rules
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Expanded Google personal search
Search results based on 180 days of search activity
To disable:
• Signing In
• Click on “Web History”
• Click on “Disable customizations”
Best Practices
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Interface language: English
Search language: Tick Applicable Languages
Safe Search filtering: Tick “Do not filter my search results”
Depending on cookie settings, this may be reset
Best Practices - Search Settings
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Do not click on titles of your results
Do copy & paste URL in the address line of a new page or tab
Do right click and use Copy Shortcut into a new window or tab
Best Practices–Security & Privacy
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Search terms AND order they’re entered affect both the order and the pages that appear in your search
Use words likely to appear on the pages you want Avoid using questions
USE: [pakistan fertilizer production] NOT: [paper on pakistan fertilizer production] Google limits search terms to 32 characters…use
them to focus your search!
Selecting Search Terms
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Not sure what words might appear on the page you’re looking for?
Try www.googlefight.com
Selecting Search Terms
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AND Space defaults to AND on most search engines Middle East Terrorism Qaboos bin Said Al Said
OR Must be typed and capitalized MYM OR “al Shabaab” Hezbollah OR Hezballah OR Hizballah
Basic Boolean Search Operators
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-
Always a space before and never a space after Jordan Jordan -Crossing
" " “government of Syria“ “improvised explosive device” “Karzai said” “economic policy”
Basic Boolean Search Operators
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Basic Boolean Search Operators
.. digital camera 8 to 12 megapixels $1000 "digital camera" "8..12" megapixels ..$1000
*
Acts as a placeholder for unknown term(s) and then Google find the best matches
Works only on whole words, not parts of words
[Senate voted * to * Iraq bill]
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Other Useful Search Shortcuts
Definitions define:burka define:negus
Spell checking Gibooti
Calculator 25% of 79.99 (5 * 9) + (sqrt(10)^3)
Stock information stocks:intc
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Other Useful Search Shortcuts
Unit conversions 1 foot 3 inches in meters 100 USD in Euro
Base/notation conversions
1977 in roman numerals (0x0F + 0x0F) in arabic
numerals
Country codes 265
Global time time Doha, Qatar
Global weather weather Kabul
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Using Google for Research
Basic Search Techniques
Advanced Google Search Techniques
site
Inurl, intitle, intext
filetype
info
dates
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Searches within a specific Website Cnn.com and Kuwait
Site:www.cnn.com kuwait
Search top-level domains “Iraq NGOs”
“Iraq NGOs” site:com
“Iraq NFOs” site:edu
site:
Searching Google
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Site can narrow search to a country domain or specific site Your_search_terms site:xx
- “World bank statistics" site:jo
Country code does not mean server is in that country site:ng
- Why might some web sites be registered in Nigeria?
Searching Google
site:
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Search sites in a foreign language site:sa
Get specific types of indexed data from a web site site:usf.edu - then click on Images site:state.gov Hillsborough
site: and Google Tools
Searching Google
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Searches for specific file types
Heroin Mexico filetype:pdf
intext:"limited distribution“ terrorism filetype:doc
“crisis in Darfur” filetype:pdf site:gov
drugs afghanistan filetype:ppt
filetype:
Limiting Your Search
Limitations:
Only one file type per query
Limited file type choices
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Be aware of your search syntax: site:apple.com site:www.apple.com
Remember
Searching Google
http://www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html
http://www.googleguide.com/help/calculator.html
Google Search Help:
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Tells Google to search for the provided terms in the URL
Can be useful after a pattern is discovered site:news24.com site:news24.com inurl:content inurl:2010
inurl:
Searching Google
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• What is the difference between site & inurl?
site:mako.co.il sports
inurl:mako.co.il sports
Inurl & site
inurl:cia.gov
site:cia.gov
Searching Google
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Examples of some basic inurl: search queries
inurl:AQIM
inurl:afghanistan site:cnn.com
inurl:blog site:xx (choose country code)
inurl:news site:mtrk.uz/en
inurl:
Searching Google
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intitle restricts query to web page titles
Search “political stability” Saudi Arabia intitle:“political stability” Saudi Arabia intitle:"political stability" site:sa
intitle:
Searching Google
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intext searches for text in bodyUseful for finding e-mail addresses, zip codes, and other
information that is URL-likeMay help with defunct websites
Search intext:“president" site:maktoob.com intext:gmail.com site:mako.co.il
intext:
Searching Google
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info: provides information about a site
info:www.searchlores.org
info:
Searching Google
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Querying information based on date is difficult No universal formatting No date info or daily time stamping standards Date created compared to date indexed
Don’t forget to account for culture
Information on methods for searching on dates is out there.
date
Searching Google
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1. Compare the differences between: a) inurl:media analysis b) inurl:"media analysis"
2. Find a presentation (PPT) on water management in Pakistan
3. Find a blog in Afghanistan that discusses health issues
4. Find quotes by Bashar al-Assad on the economy of Syria
Check on Learning 3
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Other Google Search Tools
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Because Google can’t do it all Search more of the web Get more options in results
More focused results (domain, topic specific, deep web, etc)
Take advantage of human selectivityLibrarians’ Internet IndexInfoMineGoogle Custom Search Engines (CSE) Malhalo (Human-powered)
Why Beyond Google?
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Beyond Google
www.yippy.com (formerly Clusty) Deep web search - Finds typically difficult to locate pages and databases Ex. Obscure government information, academic research, tough-to-find obscure news
www.exalead.com Excellent all around search engine Displays results with screen shots (timesaver)
www.bing.com (formerly Live Search) Answers the question – the “Decision Engine” Integrated with Facebook Soon to be integrated with Yahoo (2012)
www.webopedia.com Encyclopedic resource dedicated to techno terminology and computer information
www.completeplanet.com/ Deep web search Access dynamic databases Search within data range Well-documented help section
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Anyone can put up a web page
Many pages not updated
No quality control
- most sites not “peer-reviewed”
- less trustworthy than scholarly publications
Why Evaluate What You Find on the Web?
Critical Evaluation
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Look at the URL - personal page or site ? ~ or % or users or members
Domain name appropriate for the content ?
-Restricted: edu, gov, mil, a few country codes (ca)
-Unrestricted: com, org, net, most country codes (us, uk)
Published by an entity that makes sense ? -News from its source?
www.nytimes.com-Advice from valid agency?
www.nih.gov/www.nimh.nih.gov/
Before you CLICK!
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Can you tell who wrote it ?name of page authororganization, institution, agency you recognize
Credentials for the subject matter ?
Look for links to:
“About us” “Philosophy” “Background” “Biography”
Is it recent or current enough ?Look for “last updated” date
Scan the Perimeter of the PAGE
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Search the URL in alexa.com
Click on “Overview”
Who links to the site? Who owns the domain?
What did the site look like in the past?
(Archive.org (Previously Wayback Machine)
Do Some Detective Work
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Which blogs link to it? What do they say?
Try the URL in Google Blog Search
See what links are in Google’s “Similar pages”
Look up the page author in Google
Do Some Detective Work (cont)
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Was the page put on the web to
inform ?
persuade ?
sell ?
as a parody or satire ?
Is it appropriate for your purpose?
Does it all ADD up?
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Search a controversial topic in Google
nuclear Armageddon
prisons danger
“stem cells” abortion
Scan the first two pages of results
Visit one or two sites
evaluate their quality and reliability
Corroborate With other Sites
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Google™pedia: The Ultimate Google Resource
Second Edition, 2007
Web Search Garage
by Tara Calishain, 2004
Google® Power Tools Bible
by Ted Coombs; Roderico DeLeon, 2007
Available as e-books via Safari database on OpenSource.gov
Free Guides
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All available in e-book format via Safari
database on OpenSource.gov
Free Guides
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Invisible web content
Meeting Index (www.interdok.com) Migration Policy Institute (migrationinformation.org) World Research Institute (earthtrends.wri.org) International Freshwater Treaties Databases (www.transboundarywaters.orst.edu) OAIster (www.oaister.org) Archnet (www.archnet.org) National Geographic Publication Index (http://publicationsindex.nationalgeographic.com)
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Web Directories
Bubl.ac.uk
Intute.ac.uk
UMich Government Documents Center
UColorado’s Foreign Information by Country -
Librarian’s Internet
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QUESTIONS?