Unit 3- Operating online

Employment
 The internet has had an impact on individuals' employment often requiring
people to learn new skills so they can change the way they work.

Skill requirements

 Many employees now require employees to use the internet for work, meaning
that employees need to learn new skills. For example, the journalist used to write
articles using a word processor and submit them to their editor for publication.
Now journalists are often required to post and update their stories on social
media, write blogs, send broadcasts from their smartphones and interact with
their audience. In addition, they must be able to react quickly to stories, which
means their typing and proofreading skills must be of a good standard to allow
them to post a story quickly and without mistakes.
 As the nature of jobs changes and the use of the internet at work grows, skilled
workers are needed to support this development. People are required to train and
advise unskilled workers and to create the digital devices and software that
workers use. Other people are needed to install and maintain the systems that
they use
Job loses

 If employees do not keep updating their skills in the use of the internet, they may
not have the skills required to carry out new work. If they are not willing or able
to retrain, they could lose their job.

Online working from home

 Before the internet existed, offices were seen as necessary to provide a central
location for people to discuss business and collect, distributed, and file
paperwork. Offices are allowed employees to be supervised by their managers.
  Connected digital devise has led to the availability of a decentralized distributed
approach. For some types of organizations, this has meant that the traditional
office is no longer the most appropriate or productive environment for its
employees.

Benefits of working from home

Benefits to individual
 No need to travel to work
 Reduces stress caused by traffic, public transport delays, and overcrowded
transport
 Saves money
 Makes people feel as though they are helping the environment by reducing
travel emissions

 Can spend more time working or resting because they spend less time traveling to
work.
 No need to wear a uniform or business clothes which reduces the cost
 Can work at a time to suit them
 Can work on a task for longer periods without distractions from colleagues or
scheduled meetings.
 Can work in a comfortable environment
 Can organize work around social or family commitments

Benefits to organizations
 Can attract talented motivated workers
 Can employ people who are located everywhere because they do no need to travel
 Do not need to buy or rent offices or furniture for employees
 Workers do not have to commute so will not bed delayed getting to work by
weather or transport issues
 Workers may work more effectively at home
Drawbacks to individuals
 May be distractions at homes such as family and leisure activities
 Suffer from a lack of social interaction with colleagues
 Feel disconnected from the company

Drawbacks to organizations
 Maybe concerns about data security
 It May be more difficult to manage and support employees who are not in the
office
 Employees working at home might not work as hard
 Can be complicated to organize payments and permissions for workers in
different counties

Impact of the internet on organizations

 the internet has had a significant impact on organizations as well as on
individuals. Many of its effects on organizations have been positive but some
have been negative
Positive impacts
Improved communication
 Organizations can communicate and interact with their customers and employs
more easily and in real-time using email, instant messaging, and social media
 They can provide up-to-date information about the development, pricing, and
availability of their products and services
 Organizations can publish lie information online allowing people to follow the
organization's activities.
Access to global markets
 The internet has made it easier for an organization to advertise and sell to
customers in counties around the world
 Products of digital content are now able to sell their products online without
 having to create physical packaging and can avoid postage charges
 In addition, the internet has also ensured that manufacturers have an easier
business that produces materials and parts and can communicate more easily with
them.

Access to the global workforce

 Organizations can employ people in other counties

 This allows the organization to be more selective when hiring employees because
they do not just have to employ people who live within traveling distance of the
organization's offices. This means that the organizations can make use of different
skills and time zones
 The organizations may also be able to reduce their costs because people who live
in some countries will accept lower wages than in other countries

Negative issues
Security issues
 The data stored by organizations is often private ad valuable
 If data is stored in a central location it can be physically secured by walls, locks,
alarms, and security guards. None of these is safe but they are all good ways of
securing data
 Employees often work from home. Organizations use the internet to provide their
employees with access to their systems while working from home. They do so
using three methods
1. Allowing employees to transfer a copy of the organization data to home
via email
2. Providing remote access to the data stored in the organization buildings
such as by using VPN
3. Storing data on another company's servers and providing aces to that data
Each of these methods means that the data is more vulnerable to being accessed by
authorized users than it would be if it reminded in a central location.
There are three main ways in which unauthorized users can gain access to systems
 Authorized users reveal their login details, either intentionally or unintentionally
such as by losing paper copies of their login details, saving their login details to
computers that they lose, being pressured into telling someone their details, or
having passwords that are easy to guess. Organizations have policies that help
employees to understand and manage these rises. Policies like these make
employees accountable for their actions which means that are more likely to act
responsibly.
 Unauthorized users intercept the data, either as it is transferred over the internet
from the organization to the employee's computer or as it is transferred with the
employee's LAN after it has been transferred via the internet(WAN)
 Organizations often use encryption to secure data when it is transferred using the
internet which protects data even if it is intercepted.
 Unauthorized users hack into organizations' systems. To prevent access to their
system from the internet, the organization uses authentication, firewalls, and
intrusion detection systems

Digital Footprint
 All the data that a user creates online is recorded and stored.
 Digital footprints can be passive or active. 

Active Digital Footprint

A user who has actively published information about themselves online, such as by
posting or participating on social networking sites or online forums, is said to have an
active digital footprint. Any posts that a user makes while logged in to a website using a
registered username or profile become a part of their active digital footprint. Other
actions that result in active digital footprints are submitting an online form, such as
signing up for a newsletter or allowing cookies to be accepted by your browser.

Passive Digital Footprint

When data about a user is gathered without their knowledge or consent, a passive digital
footprint is generated. For instance, this happens when websites gather data on user visit
frequency, source country, and IP address. Users might not be aware that this procedure is
active because it is hidden. Social networking sites and advertisers leveraging your likes,
shares, and comments to profile you and target you with particular material are other
instances of passive footprints.

Why are digital footprints important?

 They are generally permanent, and the owner has little control over how others
may use the data once it is made public or even semi-public, as may be the case
with Facebook posts.
 A person's digital reputation, which is widely regarded as being just as important
as their offline reputation, can be determined by their digital footprint.
 Before making recruiting decisions, employers might look into the digital traces
of potential hires, notably on social media. Before accepting a student, colleges
and universities can look up their digital footprints.
 Your online postings of words and images run the risk of being misunderstood or
edited, which could lead to unintended offense.
 A wider audience may see private group content, potentially compromising
friendships and relationships.
 Cybercriminals can take advantage of your digital footprint, exploiting it for
things like phishing to get access to accounts or fabricating identities based on
your data.
It is important to think about what the digital footprint says about a person because of
these factors. Many people attempt to restrict their digital footprint by exercising caution
when using the internet to limit the amount of data that can be collected in the first place.
Examples of digital footprints
A user of the internet may leave behind a digital footprint made up of hundreds of
objects. Users can increase their digital footprint in a variety of ways, including:
Online purchasing
 purchasing items from online shops
  establishing an account or registering for coupons
 Obtaining and utilizing a shopping app
 subscription to brand newsletters
Banking online

 using a mobile banking application

 Purchase or sale of stocks
 reading financial blogs and periodicals
 A credit card account is opened
 Social Media

Protect your digital footprint

 Search engines can be used to examine your digital footprint.
 Google your name to start the search. Include your full name, first and last, and
any alternate spellings. Look up both your old and new names if you've changed
your name. You can get an idea of what information about you is available to the
general public by looking through the search engine results. You may get in touch
with the site administrator to ask them to take down any results that portray you
negatively. One technique to monitor your name is to set up Google Alerts.
 Check your privacy settings once more-You can manage who sees your postings
using the privacy settings on social media. Check these settings to make sure they
are at a level that is comfortable for you. Facebook, for instance, lets you create
personalized lists of people who may see particular posts and limit posts to friends
only. Keep in mind, too, that privacy settings only offer protection on the specific
social networking platform.
 Avoid unsafe websites-A secure website should have a URL that begins with
HTTPS:// rather than HTTP://; the "s" stands for "secure" and denotes the
presence of a security certificate. Additionally, to the left of the address bar, there
ought to be a padlock symbol. Never divulge any private information, especially
financial information, on unsecured websites.
  Don't share private information on public Wi-Fi- Since you can never be sure who
set up a public Wi-Fi network or who else might be keeping an eye on you, it is
fundamentally less secure than the one you have access to at home. When using
public Wi-Fi networks, refrain from transferring private information.
 Remove previous accounts-Getting rid of outdated accounts, such as social media
sites you no longer use or newsletter subscriptions you no longer read, is one
approach to lessen your digital footprint. Eliminating inactive accounts reduces
your vulnerability to data breaches.
 Maintain software updates-An abundance of digital traces could be stored on out-
of-date software. Cybercriminals could obtain this data without the most recent
upgrades. By using software flaws, cybercriminals have simple access to a
victim's devices and data. By keeping your software updated, you can aid in
preventing this. Hacker assaults may be more likely to succeed against older
software.
 Setup a VPN-Your digital footprint can be protected by utilizing a virtual private
network, or VPN. This is because VPNs hide your IP address, effectively
obscuring your online activities. This safeguards your online privacy and can stop
websites from setting cookies that record your web browsing history. With the aid
of Kaspersky Secure Connection, you may establish a private connection between
your device and a web server so that no one can see or access the information you
are transferring.

Advantages of having a digital footprint

 Establishing a good online reputation-A and digital footprint could be useful in
building your online reputation. For instance, if someone searches for you using
your name, a list of favorable references about you can appear in the search
results. This can be beneficial when you're looking for new career opportunities or
building your web brand.
 Increased opportunities: A good online reputation can open up many
possibilities you would not have otherwise. It can help you land jobs,
scholarships, and other opportunities.
 Creating connections-Having an online presence can facilitate social interaction.
Your digital footprint, for instance, could assist investors in finding you and
understanding the advantages of backing your project if you're searching for
capital to launch your own business. Having a presence online can aid in
spreading the word about your art if you're an artist. They can discover what
content is offered for purchase or viewing at the galleries where you present it in
this way.
 earning income If you have a blog, you may use it as a means of generating
income online through affiliate marketing and adverts. You can sell goods using
this kind of platform if you own an online store. If you use your digital footprint
wisely, you can use it to make money for both your personal and professional life.

Disadvantages of digital footprint

 Digital footprints raise several privacy problems, with privacy being one of
the greatest. Many people fear that third parties will access and use their
personal information without their permission.
 Damage to reputation: A bad impression might jeopardize your reputation,
which can be detrimental in the workplace. For instance, having a poor online
reputation may make it difficult for you to get into high schools and colleges.
 Digital footprints are a concern for certain businesses, which may run
background checks on prospective employees. You might not be able to
acquire the job you want if you leave a bad impression.