Preview
The internet has been an integral part of humans which dates back to the nineteen sixty’s. Since then, there has been spectacular development and a whole lot of intricacies. The dynamic nature of technologies has helped introduce new features and technology to form the power tool (i.e. Internet) we have today.
The browsers, which enable us to surf the internet has also played a major role in the adventure of internet adoption since its introduction. Today, the internet is access by a whole lot of people around the world and used for most of our daily activities.
In this paper we are going to briefly look at how internet and web browsers have evolved over time. In addition, we will also see the prospect of the blockchain technology in the browser market.
History of the internet
Long before the physical implementation of the internet (worldwide interconnection of networks), the likes of Nikola Tesla and J.C.R. Licklider had had a conceptual models of how we could tele-communicate in a form of a network. On October 29, 1969, The U.S. Department of Defense awarded a contract for the development of the ARPANET project which was later known as the internet. Nodes/computers at the Stanford Research Institute was for the first time connected to nodes at the University of California. Years along the line, other computers were connected to the ARPANET.
The emergence of the Transmission Control Protocol and Internet protocol in the 1970s after the shutdown of the French project ”Cyclades” brought liberation to network and communication. The TCP/IP is a protocol that dictates how data should be transmitted between computers. As time went on, ARPANET switched over to the TCP/IP protocols which made it possible for multiple computer to communicate via switching. This led to the inter connection of several networks which is now referred to as the internet in modern day.
From the 90s till date, the internet has changed how we live as humans. It has made instant communication possible such as e-mail, instant messaging, telephone call etc. The World Wide Web has also brought about social networks, forums and e-commerce platforms. We all can attest to the fact that, we have move to an intensive technological epoch and we highly rely on the internet to somewhat survive.
A brief history of web browsers.
As we utilize the internet, most of our activities are carried out through a web browser. Basically, accessing information on the internet requires a browser. In reference to this, I know someone will be wondering what’s this browsers we are talking about is. A web browse by definition is a software program that allows for the displaying of HTML files and also can be used to navigate the World Wide Web. Browsers never started like how we see them today. There have been series of vital development throughout the years.
The first browser in history was known as the “WorldWideWeb” which was developed by Scientist Sir Tim Berners Lee. With its name similar to that of the World Wide Web, the name of the browsers was later changed to “Nexus” to prevent any future misunderstand. Other browsers that succeeded Nexus were “MidasWWW” which was developed at the Standford Linear Accelerator Centre and “Lynx” which was text-based.
In 1993, there came Mosaic, a browser that could display both text and image at the same time. It is recognized as the first browser to support graphical images and worn the heart of many. It was created by the University of Illinois’ National Center for Supercomputing Applications.
Since 1995, there have been the likes of Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer – Microsoft’s first browser, Opera, Safari which was introduced by Steve Jobs as the first Apple web browser, Mozilla Firefox and Chrome. These are the browsers that changed the game with their capability to display multimedia contents, speed, cross-platform functionality etc.
Today, the blockhain has also led the force to introduce a new generation of web browsers. These are browsers built on the blockchain and as such they are technically referred to as “decentralized web browsers”. These are fresh in the system and are not known by many. However, efforts are being put together to advocate for the use of these evolutionary browsers. These next generation tool upholds security, transparency and reward scheme. The more people get to understand and adopt blockchain and cryptocurrencies, so will people have taste for decentralized browsers.
Web browsers – Behind the Scene!
Image credit: Pinky Samantaray
Most of us hardly know what actual happens behind the scene when we try to access something on the internet. Apparently, what we see are the user interface which come with some buttons and features to aid usability.
Anytime we try to access a website, it is the web browser that acts as client to request for the document form the web server. In order to access a website, you will need to enter the website's address in your search box and press “enter”. What happens is that, the Domain Name Server (DNS) translates the domain name you entered into its equivalent IP address. The IP address is what is used to identify the web server that contain the documents you are requesting. After that, it sends a HTTP request to the web server, and it response with HTML, CSS, JavaScript content files etc. to the browser. The browser also ensure that all documents requested are intact whiles in communication with the network.
The rendering engine of the web browser requests the HTML and XML document and interpret them to form a document object model tree. After this process the results are displayed for the user. Rendering engines varies among browser and so it can happen that a content will display differently on other web browsers.
General browser security issues
After looking at what a browser is, its history and how it works, we going to take turn and look at some security related issues of the web browser.
The internet as a tool that bring joy to most users on other has endangered some people. Bad folks the internet as a medium to commit cyber crimes. Because the browser serves as a portal to access the internet, most of these undesired acts are accomplished through the browser. Browsers are intended to save information about a user for the sake of convenience but the information can end up in wrong hands. At the end, what gets compromised is user data.
User data leakage
The majority of incidents that happen online has something to do directly or indirectly with data. If a hacker should intrude and get access to a database, one of the most important thing they look for is data. This is due to the simple fact that data is valuable. Some of these activities has the browser play a crucial role. Below are some the threats:
Browsers History: These are data that show sites a person has visited and what time. By observing your browser history we could tell the kind of person you are and what you do online. When such data is captured by an unauthorized party, he or she could know your online behavior pattern which is somehow meant to be private.
Saved Login credentials: Developers of browsers are always on the move to make their products convenient and easy to use. In that regards, browsers have the ability to help users save their logins to various sites with the motive of saving users from memorizing a bunch of usernames, passwords and emails. Unfortunately, there are a bunch of tools which a hacker could use to extract all these sensitive information from a browser.
Auto-fill information: This is another user-friendly feature that saves the user the burden of having to always enter much longer information such as home address, credit card details, social security numbers etc. into online forms. When such information lands in the hands for bad people, what happen thereafter is mostly chaos.
Internet Cookies: In our previous paper we had to chance to learn about what cookies are and how they can be compromised. We have permanent and temporal cookies which are store by the browser onto our devices. This data helps browsers to recognize a user and his/her preference. They also pose a very crucial security threat to users even though they are intended for good purposes.
Prospects of the blockchain in Web browsers: NetBox.browser as a living testimony!
The blockchain has been an important technology in today’s world. Many have had a feel of it power. It has been adopted in industries like agriculture, business, entertainment and many more. All these proves the blockchain has something great to offer humans in all aspects of life. The browser industry is no exception taking into consideration how the blockchain technology is open and easy to incorporate into existing systems.
Centralized browsers that we have today are the widely used internet browsers. They are pre-install on computers, smart phones, tablets etc. which makes them monopolize the market. On other hand, decentralized browsers are the new trend with improved security, transparency and reward sharing.
Netbox.global is an infrastructure with many products in its portfolio. It has the netbox.browser as is main product, netbox.chain which is based on PIVX open source blockchain, netbox.wallet, netbox.coin and few more. However, we are only concerned with the browsers some of the product that can be used in conjunction with the browsers for safe internet browsing.
The netbox.browser is a new generation web browser built on the blockchain. Unlike the other browsers netbox.browser rewards users for browsing the web. This is how it works, blockchain transaction blocks need to be verified before they are added to the chain. For this reason, the Proof-of-Stake (POS) consensus algorithm requires nodes on the network to validate these blocks. A node on the network must also meet the requirement of having a certain quantity of coins in order to verify transaction blocks.
In the case of netbox.global, the browsers serves as masternodes on the netbox.chain. Validators are rewarded when they verify block and this reward is share amongst participants. This is how come you get reward for running a masternode on the netbox.Browser. Ordinal nodes i.e. users also get their share of the reward for being active. The more users of the browser, the more stable and reliable the network becomes, and the more reward one gets.
Furthermore, the blockchain has transparency and autonomy as its attribute which is inherited by products built on it. This makes netbox.browser transparent and dependable when it comes to user privacy. Users have control of how data about them are shared and by who. The threats observed with centralized browsers are mitigated with netbox.global approach. With this, the world can now enjoy a holistic experience whiles on the internet without any fear of data leakage.
You may be wondering what form of reward are shared with netbox.browser users. The answer is the netbox.coins ($NBX). This is the native coin of the netbox.chain which plays a delicate role in the ecosystem. The $NBX will be used as a means to reward users or even be used as means of payment between two parties. Alternative, holders of $NBX can stake their coins to earn more rewards or use it in netbox.store – a decentralized and secured store for distributed applications. The exciting part is on the netbox.chain there no transaction fee.
Where to HODL $NBX? No problem. In order not to stress when wanting to store the coins, the team have integrated a wallet into the browsers. With this you receive your reward direct into your wallet. In addition, the wallets come with an in-built exchange where you can conveniently trade $NBX and other supported cryptocurrencies. Its support multiple currencies and fiat currencies (can be toped-up with payment cards). Users are also provided with private keys to their respective wallets on other blockchains and can safely manage their funds.
Conclusion
A lot have been said now. It is time to join the nodes of the revolutionary web browsers. You get the chance to support a good course by contributing to the network, enjoying privacy and as a sign of good will, you get rewarded in return. Download netbox.browser today!
Community Stats.
Website: 61599 visit per month
Twitter: 5,597 Followers
Telegram: 13 577 members
YouTube: 236 subscribers
News Updates
Partnership with Zcore Masternodes System - https://medium.com/@NetboxGlobal/new-partnership-with-zcore-masternodes-system-400356c3d51c
Launch of Ambassador Program - https://medium.com/@NetboxGlobal/netbox-global-launches-ambassador-program-e54b4dea725a
Netbox.global AMA session - watch here
New Team Advisor - https://medium.com/@NetboxGlobal/new-team-member-netbox-global-advisor-mr-artur-prints-c2a5d2ca5c8d
Reference
Site: https://netbox.global
Twitter: https://twitter.com/netboxglobal
Telegram: https://t.me/netboxglobal
Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/GCgZZPN
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/netboxglobal/
Medium: https://medium.com/@netboxglobal
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIAUgPvyihTcsqYSM264iIg
GitHub: https://github.com/netboxglobal
Content Credit
BitcoinTalk https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile;u=2596274
Telegram: https://t.me/therealthinkright
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