Do you understand web addresses? Web addresses are
required to route internet traffic to it's proper website. They show up in the
address bar, located at the top of your browser (Internet Explorer,
Firefox, Etc.) when
you are online. For example, our web address is http://micaspecialties.org,
which is how your computer was able to find us on the world wide web!
There are two main differences between addresses: secure and
non-secure. Rogue sites will try to trick you by impersonating secure sites
(or other sites), but
they cannot fool you if you understand the basics of web addresses. When you
view a web site address, break it down and see where you really are.
Take
a look around and see if we provide something new to you. If we do, it was worth the
visit today! There are three steps to follow below for a brief discussion on web
addresses.
For other security concerns facing you while on-line, visit our
WebWatch page.
For Government help with your internet problems, visit our
Internet Law page.
Let's get started!
The basics, step 1.
Here is our web address:
Example 1:
http://www.micaspecialties.org
http: This stands for HYPERTEXT TRANSFER
PROTOCOL and is the general format of non-secured websites. Never
submit sensitive information (banking, bill paying, SS number, or any
information you want to be secure) over sites that have http in the web
address. Keep in mind, however, that most sites use http for their home page and
then transfer you to a secure page to do 'business.' The secure pages will use
https:, which stands for HYPERTEXT TRANSFER PROTOCOL SECURED.
These are the only secure pages on the internet. They are encrypted for
security and are considered safe for business. If the web address does not
begin with https:// do not enter your sensitive information!
// are separators that are part of the protocol,
nothing more.
www This stands for world wide web
and it is the standard format for web addresses. A website's server can be set
up to read the name with or without the www attached, so not all sites will
display this in their address.
.micaspecialties
This is the domain name of the website. It is the same as a business sign on the
side of the road. With the web, this name is called the 'domain name' and is
purchased by the website owner/operator. When you purchase a domain name, you
also get a physical address like: 192.168.72.11. The domain name is
cross-referenced to the physical address on a DNS (domain name server), and then
you are connected to the site. This is what search engines like MSN Search or
Google recognize when you request a webpage.
Because of the power behind a DNS Server, many
hackers try to attack them in order to take control of the "routing process of
internet," and thereby send you to a rogue site that will infect you with
viruses and other malware. This is a very difficult attack to pull off which is
not as common. You will hear about DNS attacks about once a year or so, but the
attack on personal machines is every few seconds! Let's get back to web
addresses...
.org
This is an abbreviated description/extension of the website. It might indicate
the country or the type of website you are visiting. The rules for these
abbreviations are loose, so it is only a general indicator. Many website
developers do prefer to keep commercial sites on .com's and organizations on .org's,
which does make surfing a little more friendlier.
Below, we have listed some
website extensions for you to view. We
will be adding many more soon! You have probably been around the world and back,
without ever knowing it!
STEP TWO IS NEXT
Continue the Web Facts briefing.
Additional pages explained, Step 2.
Example 2:
http://www.micaspecialties.org/safesites.htm
The name after the last "/" (safesites.htm) is an additional page attached to
the main web page. When you read the website address, start at the left and
break down the information. After the website name (www.micaspecialties.org) is
the name of the additional page of that site. So if you see an address that is
just the name, you are visiting their site's main or front page.
.htm
This stands for "hypertext mark-up" and is standard
for web pages. You can also use .html which stands for
"hypertext mark-up language." They both work the same way. Your computer knows
that this command is to be viewed by your web browser, such as Internet Explorer,
Opera, FireFox or any web browser. There are other extensions/commands that are for web pages, such as
.net, .asp, .aspx, .php and many others.
Some sites will have short and some will have long addresses.
And as the addresses get long, it can be easy to ignore where you actually are
visiting.
Example
3:
http://www.happyfunplacetoday.com/18374647.??jdhfgtudidi.htm
When you publish a website, you can name your pages pretty much anything you
want. Some sites refer to their additional pages in a coded reference as with
the one above. It is
easier for them to organize and update, but it can be considered a little tricky
by some because you cannot see where you are going. We at M.I.C.A. refer to all
of our pages by the true name of the page. Below is the correct address of our
website's main address + an additional page of our site.
Example
4:
http://www.micaspecialties.org/producttesting.htm
To The Top
STEP THREE IS NEXT
Tricks used by rogue
sites. Trickery exposed, step 3.
Some sites redirect you to another site by
adding a long string of code before adding a new website address at the end.
Example
5:
http://www.happyfunplacetoday.com/18574655745tyreupage?/12990000/www.notagoodsite.com
They are doing this to hide the fact that you are really leaving the named
site and going to a completely different site (the "www.notagoodsite.com"
portion)! The address bar located in your browser will only show you about 30
spaces, so they will eat up this space with a bunch of nothing and then insert
the new site address. Pay close attention to this trick. Please note, however,
that a lot of excellent sites have very long web addresses. If they have several
hundred pages or even thousands, they will need to use longer names.
Another way they try to trick you is by
inserting a sub-domain in front of the main domain address, hoping you did not
notice.
Example
6:
http://www.funsite.micaspecialties.org
Any name injected in front of the main domain name means you are at THAT site (funsite),
not the name after it (micaspecialties). While it is part of the main domain (micaspecialties),
it is different website all together. While this type of web structure is used
by credible sites as well, it is employed by the bad guys regularly. A large
website is better organized with sub-domains or when you want a separate
identity. We use a sub-domain for CAAM for much the same reasons.
Example
7:
http://caam.micaspecialties.org/
You can add a sub-domain at the end of a
address as well. You can spot these because there is no page extension (.html, .htm,
.asp, .php, and so on) listed after the name blog, in example 8.
Example 8:
http://micaspecialties.org/blog
But remember, the main domain name of the site is
where you are visiting and they own (legally responsible) all of the sub-domains
under it. The reason I wanted to discuss sub-domains is because of the trickery
afforded by them. Someone not paying attention may believe they are visiting
their banks site in the example below. They are really visiting the highlighted
site
Example
9:
www.BankOneloandepartment.notagoodsite.com/member
services
So, if you can save yourself a lot of troubles
my first checking out the main domain and it's extension, as in the highlighted
example below.
Example
10:
http://www.micaspecialties.org/producttesting.htm
The name after the "/" is an additional page of
that website and that is where you are. By using example 9 above, you would be
at the micaspecialties.org domain - but viewing the product testing page (which
is an additional page attached to our site). Any site owner could have a
additional page named after our name and their site would pull that page up, as
if it were us, or name it after your bank.
Please be careful while surfing and completely
investigate any website you interact with on a personal level (banking, bill
paying, entering home addresses and stuff like that). They should be https://
secured sites that you trust completely.
If in doubt, send the address to us and we will
examine their code for malicious trickery!
To The Top
YOUR DONE!
Domain Name Extensions
.mobi - mobile services
.org - organization, United states
.com - commercial, United states
.net - network, United states
.biz - business, United States
.info - information, United States
.us - general, United States
.edu - educational institution, United States
.gov - government, United States
.eu - European Union
.ie - general, Ireland
.co.uk - commercial, United Kingdom
.org.uk - organization, United Kingdom
.au - general, Australia
.de - general, Germany
.ru - general, Russia
.nl - general, Netherlands
.ca - general, Canada
.pk - general, Pakistan
.tr - general, Turkey
To The Top
Hope this was helpful in some way. If you would like to submit any 'webfacts'
to us to include, just use our
E-Z Submit
Form.
