The Internet: A Brief Overview of How It Works

The Internet is usually misinterpreted as the Web. However, it is the technical infrastructure that makes the Web, which is made up of a large network of computers that are independently distributed and linked through Ethernet cables or wirelessly via WiFi or Bluetooth.

The router is connected to each computer on the network and delivers messages from a computer to the right destination (another computer). The Internet is accessible by telephone, using a modem connected to the Internet service provider (ISP).

Before the message is sent to a computer, the Internet Protocol address (IP address) is specified. The IP address is made up of a series of four numbers separated by dots that are unique to each computer device on the internet network (for example, 174.158.3.192). The Domain Name System (DNS), an open public communication protocol, makes it simple to connect. For instance, the domain www.codeclannigeria.dev is easier to access instead of using the IP address.

Information is transferred from one computer to another as packets through various routes. The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) manages the sending and receiving of the packets. When a uniform resource location (URL) is entered in a web browser, your computer communicates with another computer known as the Web Server, which sends information via the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). To prevent hacks or snooping, it is advisable to communicate on secure channels like Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and Transport Layer Security (TLS). They are identified as HTTPS, where "S" stands for "secured."

We exchange private data on the internet, such as passwords, credit card numbers, bank details, emails, etc. Encryption can keep these private by converting text messages into a meaningless data stream. It can be unscrambled by the decryption process. A public key is shared with everyone and can be encrypted by any party, while a private key can only be decrypted by a computer with the right access.