Chapter 5

The Internet
The Internet is a global computer
network that provides various
technologies and services using
standard communication protocols
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Applications of the Internet

▪ Web pages:
HTML pages consisting of text, image, and audio files can be accessed using a web
browser.
For example: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge

▪ Web applications:
Web software that can be accessed through a browser.

▪ Applications for smartphones:

Various applications that can be accessed through a smartphone without a web
browser.
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Applications of the Internet

▪ Cloud computing:
Cloud computing enables users to store files remotely.

▪ VoIP:
Voice over Internet Protocol enables users to place voice calls over the Internet.

▪ Audio and video streaming:

Various websites and applications allow users to view audio and video files without
storing them.

▪ Email:
Email servers allow users to store emails securely and retrieve them when
necessary.
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Domain Name Server (DNS)

▪ Each computer in a TCP/IP network is uniquely identified by its IP address.

▪ So, when a user wants to access data from another computer, he/she has
to know the IP address of that computer. It is hard to remember the IP
address.
▪ Hence, each IP address hosting a website is mapped to a domain name.
▪ These domain names are easy to remember and represents a set of web
pages.
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Domain Name Server (DNS)

▪ For example: amazon.co.uk is a domain name which stores data related
to products and services sold.
▪ In this domain name, there are various web-pages, such as:
✔ https://www.amazon.co.uk/laptops (a page that leads to the purchase
of laptops)
✔ https://www.amazon.co.uk/help (a page that leads to the help menu)
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Domain name server

▪ Each domain name ends with a suffix.
▪ This suffix represents the top-level domain.
▪ For example: .gov represents government agencies, .org represents
non-profit organisations and .com represents commercial businesses.
▪ Some domains also have suffixes that represent a country.
▪ For example: .uk represents domains based in the United Kingdom.
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Domain name server:

Working
▪ A user requests the IP address of a domain from a domain name
server. The server searches for a match as per the user’s request.
▪ In the case where the domain name is not present in a particular
server, the request is passed to another server.
▪ This process continues until all servers have been searched or a
match has been found.
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Domain name server: Working

DNS 1:
https:\\www.amazon.co.uk
1 is not in this database

4
3 2 5

Web server hosting

DNS 2: www.amazon.co.uk
User wants to visit Found IP address for
https:\\www.amazon.co.uk https:\\www.amazon.co.uk
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Folder structure of domain

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Cookie
▪ A message generated by a web server and sent to a web browser; every time a
user visits a website.
▪ Collects important information about the user, which is then used by the web
server to track the user and maintain user preferences.
▪ Only used to remember a user’s habits such as reading, purchases, music, etc.
Cookies do not perform any operation. It is only used to store data.
▪ Personal information such as banking details and passwords are not stored in
cookies.
▪ Information collected in cookies is also subject to data protection and privacy
laws.
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Digital currency
▪ Digital currency exists only in electronic form. Unlike conventional currencies, it does
not have a physical form.

▪ In digital currency, money exists as data on a computer and is transferred into

physical form of currency if required.

▪ PayPal is an example of a financial technology company that supports electronic

transfer of money instead of traditional methods such as cheques and money
orders.

▪ Google Pay is an online payment system developed by Google to support online

transactions and payments with Android phones and tablets. For devices sold by
Apple, Apple Pay is available for this purpose.
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Digital currency
▪ The block diagram given below illustrates how digital currency is transferred
from a sender’s account to a receiver’s account.

▪ The bank used by the sender and receiver may be different and, in such
cases, a central bank is required to process the transaction. A disadvantage
of using a central system is maintaining confidentiality and security.
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Digital currency
▪ Cryptocurrency: A form of digital currency that uses decentralised
databases such as blockchain to store and manage the details of
transactions.

▪ Cryptocurrency has overcome the issue of maintaining confidentiality and

security by implementing decentralisation, as shown in the figure below. This
method uses cryptography to track transactions.
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Digital currency
▪ Differences between cryptocurrency and traditional digital currency:

Traditional Digital Currency Cryptocurrency

Exchange rates are Rules are set by the
regulated by central banks cryptocurrency community
as there is no state control
Transaction details are not All transactions are publicly
recorded publicly recorded and can be
tracked
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Implementing Cryptocurrency
▪ A cryptocurrency is implemented within a blockchain, which makes it more
secure.

▪ A blockchain is a decentralised database that stores the transactions of all

networked members.

▪ A blockchain represents a number of interconnected computers. There is no

central server in a blockchain.

▪ Details of all transactions are stored on all computers of a blockchain

network.

▪ For every new transaction, a new block is created.

Implementing Cryptocurrency
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using blockchain technology

Each block consists the following information.

▪ Data: Information about the sender, receiver, amount of money, currency, and
much more.

▪ Hash value: A unique value generated for each block based on cryptographic
algorithm (SHA 256). This value also contains a timestamp to identify an event.

▪ Previous hash value: A value that points to previous block.

Example of blockchain
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Implementing Cryptocurrency
▪ Block 1 is also called the genesis block, as it doesn’t point to any previous block.

▪ Consider if block 2 is altered in some way, then it would not have the same hash
value (A489) and, hence, all the further blocks will become invalid because their
hash values are dependent on the hash value of block 2.
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Implementing Cryptocurrency
▪ When a new block is created, it is sent to all computers in the network to check its
correctness. If it’s valid, then it is added to the blockchain. When a new user joins
the blockchain, they receive a copy of the whole blockchain system.

▪ Hacking is prevented by introducing proof-of-work, which makes sure that it takes

at least 10 minutes to create a new block.

▪ This process is overseen by a group of special network users called miners.

▪ Miners get commission for each new block created. Hence, a hacker will not be
able to modify a block and the further blocks in a short duration of time.

▪ The currency exchange values are also regulated by all computers in the network.
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End of topic questions

1. What is meant by the term Internet?
2. List some applications of the Internet.
3. What happens if a domain name searched by a user is not
present in a particular domain name server?
4. What are cookies? What are its uses?
5. What is cryptocurrency? State the differences between
cryptocurrency and digital currency.