Advances in computer technology is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it affords us quick and easy access to numerous conveniences such as bank statements, favorite shopping centers, school and health records, and more. On the other hand, it can also grant the same access to those who aren’t supposed to get it. Although it’s a rare occurrence, hacking has become the biggest criminal nuisance in computer history.

 

Make no bones about it. There’s nothing innocent or cute about the hacker. Today’s hackers aren’t the pimply-faced teen rebels that you might be thinking of. Instead, this generation of hackers are grown individuals who are more than likely earning a living by stealing the identities of innocent, law abiding individuals and then selling those identities to others who want to slip by the system. And the only protection against these seedy people is prevention.

 

Computer security couldn’t be more important than it is today and that’s why we’ve taken the time to introduce it to you.  You can reduce the probability of experiencing identity theft by making your computer as hacker-proof as possible. All that’s needed is a little software and a lot of common sense.

 

Install an anti-virus/anti-spyware program. Anti-virus/anti-spyware software will stop malicious code from downloading and installing onto your computer while you peruse the Internet. Known as viruses, worms, or spyware, this malicious code can destroy important files and render your computer good for only one thing: sending sensitive data back to the server of an identity thief. Don’t store sensitive data on your computer in the first place. Should your computer get infected with a virus, worm, or piece of spyware, you can thwart the individuals responsible by not storing your personal information on your PC so that when and if your computer does send back data – it won’t be anything valuable. Hackers look for things like full names, social security numbers, phone numbers, home addresses, work-related information, and credit card numbers. If these things aren’t saved onto a computer, there’s nothing critical to worry about other than restoring your computer to a non-virus condition. Don’t open files without scanning them with an anti-virus/anti-spyware program. In the past, the warning was to avoid opening files from people that you don’t know. Today it’s really not safe to open files from anyone (without scanning the files) because that’s how viruses get spread – through files - even by mistake. So even though your co-worker may have emailed a funny video, it’s no more safe to open than a video downloaded from a complete stranger. Be safe and scan each and every file you download from the Internet or receive through email regardless of where it came from. Create a barrier between your computer and prying eyes. Anti-virus/anti-spyware programs are only effective after the effect. But you can prevent identity theft from occurring by installing a firewall. A firewall is software that checks all data entering and exiting a computer and it then blocks that which doesn’t meet specified security criteria (user-defined rules) Don’t click on website links in spam messages. In an effort to obtain personal information, some spammers will send email that asks you to click on a link. The email messages are often disguised as important messages from well-known online establishments, and they often try to scare their readers into clicking links with threats of closing an account of some sort. Sometimes the links are harmless and attempt to con the reader into volunteering personal information (credit card number), but other times the links attempt to download harmful software onto a computer.

 

Your best protection against computer crimes is your own knowledge. Hopefully the suggestions above will prompt you into taking appropriate action and into protecting your computer with the suggested tools. In doing so, you’ll not only protect yourself, you’ll prevent the spread of these malicious activities and protect others at the same time.

 

 



By: Vytautas

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to start off by telling you a little story about a young law student who was in the middle of writing out her thesis on money laundering. She would go onto her favorite search engines and easily find the information she was looking for. Then to her surprise, as she went to go back to those websites, she found that she was being forcefully redirected to completely different websites that were not related. First, she just thought it was a temporary glitch that would just go away on it’s own, but it turned out the problem became permanent and that’s when she became a little suspicious that her computer might be bugged in some way. This young woman was dealing with the sort of bug that you cannot just fend off like other bugs. And to make things even worse, she was not very technical when it came to computers because her only use for her laptop was for doing research for her studies or assignments. The above story is not a one off case. There are countless people who wind up getting caught up in a problem that becomes too confusing to the average computer user, but it can be summed up by two common words that are: spyware and adware. Spyware is a term that was coined back in 1995 and became a household word roughly in 2000. Spyware is a term that reffers to any program that gets installed onto a computer in secret, so that it may access all of the private data of the users of the PC. This is easily done by recording your keystrokes, and is known as “keylogging”, by viewing your browser history or even by completely scanning the computers hard drive for potentially valuable data. You would think that these kinds of things would be found in an action movie, but the reality is that we can all become victims of spyware. No body wants to be watched while they are online. Spwyare that could be used on criminals to spy on their activities would be a benefit to the society but the reality is that these criminals are using spyware to swipe bank account details from the innocent. In the United States, the theft of identity is commonplace and so is the theft of other personal items and property that comes about from the unauthorized transfer of ownership to criminals because of stolen bank account details or credit card numbers. The best thing you can do to protect yourself is to get anti-spyware software installed so it can block and remove any dangerous program that may be hiding within your PC and all the other troublesome risks such as adware and malware. There are many spyware removal utilities that come with a free scan so you can see what is hiding in your PC before you make a decision about purchasing one. The main purpose of these applications is to delete any pre-existing spyware or to find them as soon as they are introduced into the computer. Adware, spyware and malware are different to the normal virus that primarily just re-creates itself to cause damage to the files of your computer, however, they are known to be just as disrupting. One of the most common problems people experience when they get spyware is that their computers become suddenly really slow. Another thing you may notice is that your computer seems to take forever just to start. It becomes a pain in the neck for those who have to work all day on a computer as they lose much precious time from a slower computer. Spyware has been known to act in a similar way to viruses in that it can automatically change your security settings on your system that allows other dangerous programs to enter your PC. This is a much more aggressive type of spyware that can even block virus and spyware removal software from working so that you are unable to delete the program that is causing your computer harm. For the majority, the people who create these spyware programs are never dealt with in a court of law. As there are new threats being released daily, it is best policy to have an anti-spyware utility at the ready so that you can prevent any future attack and to protect your private details.

By: Robert Kokoska

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