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TITLE AND SUBJECT OF ARTICLE
How To Protect
Yourself From Computer Hacking
When the internet became the main source
for information in the world, there have been those that
have sought to gain illegal profit from such things.
This is the way of the world and people all over the
world are now the target of the many computer hackers
that are around. Unlike the bulk of people who are
living in the virtual world, these hackers seek to gain
access to the personal and private information that one
has stored on their computer.
With this
information they...
computer,hackers
When
the internet became the main source for information in
the world, there have been those that have sought to
gain illegal profit from such things. This is the way of
the world and people all over the world are now the
target of the many computer hackers that are around.
Unlike the bulk of people who are living in the virtual
world, these hackers seek to gain access to the personal
and private information that one has stored on their
computer.
With this information they will work to
steal money, and the identity of the person. This is all
done without having to leave the home and can be
performed with a vast knowledge of how computers work.
Many people believe that this sort of crime will never
happen to them and that is not the case. The hackers of
the world are very clever and work to make sure that
they have access to the entire bulk of information on
the internet and ways to use that information to their
benefit.
The most common form of hacking is the
password grabber. With this form you get a program that
works to guess the password that you have set up on the
many protected areas of the web. Lets say that you do
all of your banking online and your bank protects your
account by way of a username and password. The hackers
will gain access to the user name in one way or another,
most often by an intercepted email over a server that is
not encrypted. With that they can then put into
operation a password program that will guess hundreds of
different combinations every hour until the machine has
discovered the password.
They will then gain
access to your bank and promptly drain it. The best way
to protect yourself against such theft is to make sure
that you use a password that is not specific to you,
such as your birthday, and also make sure that it
contains numbers along with the letters. The password
software will not be able to gain access because it can
only guess either letters or numbers, not a combination
of both because the choices are way too vast to compute.
The other most common form of hacking is the direct
email scam. These are often times referred to as spoof
emails. The email will come in looking very official and
proper from a company that you have an account with.
Then the email will most likely tell you that your
account has been suspended and you need to login to
correct the problem. It will instruct you to click on a
link to login and will take you to a page that looks
exactly like the actual company page. Once you login you
have given the hacker all of your account information.
The way to protect yourself in this case is to make
sure that you are getting the email from the company.
Most often you will find that these companies will never
ask you to follow a link to login and they will never
ask for your information in an email or other
communication. Forward the emails to the company so they
can start to track the problem and maybe shut the
hackers down before someone falls victim.
How To Protect
Yourself From Computer Identity Theft
The FTC estimates that over nine million
Americans have their identities stolen each year. This
crime has a huge potential to disrupt your life, you
might be denied a loan for education or housing, you may
miss job opportunities, or in extreme cases, you might
be arrested for a crime you did not commit.
One
of the most common types of computer identity theft is
called phishing. This is when you receive an email
requesting your personal information from someone
pretending t...
computer identity theft
The FTC estimates that over nine million Americans have
their identities stolen each year. This crime has a huge
potential to disrupt your life, you might be denied a
loan for education or housing, you may miss job
opportunities, or in extreme cases, you might be
arrested for a crime you did not commit.
One of
the most common types of computer identity theft is
called phishing. This is when you receive an email
requesting your personal information from someone
pretending to be a financial institution. The email
appears to be from a business or agency that you may
have had a reason to do business with in the past, such
as the IRS, a credit card company, or EBay. The email
explains that there has been a problem with your credit
card, or there is a pending audit, and you need to reply
to the email with the correct credit card information,
or social security number to correct the problem.
As soon as you respond with the requested
information, the computer identity theft begins. Your
information could be sold online, or the scammer may use
your identity to make online purchases, apply for loans,
or to clear out your bank account. They might have the
bills sent to a different address, so you won't even
realize there is a problem until your good credit is
ruined. They could use your name to get utilities such
as telephone, heat, cable TV, or use your information to
access your wireless internet account, and run up your
charges. Your name could be used to file a fraudulent
income tax return, or to obtain government benefits. The
list of ways that computer identity theft can affect
your life appears to increase daily.
Awareness is
the most effective way to fight online identity theft.
Share the knowledge that you need to protect your
personal information and the potential for this type of
crime with your friends and family. You should become
familiar with anti-spy software programs for your
computer. Research different types, and invest in one
that works best for you. Run the program before you do
any online financial transactions.
Don't open
emails from people you don't know. If you receive an
email from a financial institution that you do business
with, go to their website, and check for any warnings
about unauthorized emails being sent. You could also
phone the institution to see if the email is legitimate.
Lastly, only do business online with secure sites.
They will usually have a small symbol in the bottom
right corner of your browser to show it is secure. Never
use your social security number on the internet.
Following these tips will help you to protect yourself
against computer identity theft. Unfortunately, it is
becoming far too common; don't let yourself become the
next victim.
How To Protect
Yourself From Computer Viruses
It’s a dangerous internet out their kids.
There are many unscrupulous individuals who work hard
every second of their waking lives to destroy your
computer, erase your hard drive and steal your bank
details (you better lock up your daughters too).
What can you do to combat these nefarious evildoers? If
you have a computer, and I presume you do, there are two
things you must have in your armory. They are: a virus
scanner and a firewall. These two items are you sword
and shi...
virus, computer, spyware, malware,
badware, internet, firewall
It’s a dangerous
internet out their kids. There are many unscrupulous
individuals who work hard every second of their waking
lives to destroy your computer, erase your hard drive
and steal your bank details (you better lock up your
daughters too).
What can you do to combat these
nefarious evildoers? If you have a computer, and I
presume you do, there are two things you must have in
your armory. They are: a virus scanner and a firewall.
These two items are you sword and shield in the ongoing
battle of good against evil. But, how do you use them to
protect yourself?
First things first, if you
don’t have a firewall, go get one. There are many free
ones out there that will do the job. Make sure the one
you get can block both incoming and outgoing connections
from your computer. If you are unfortunate enough to
receive a piece of software which is up to no good on
your system, the firewall will alert you when it tries
to use the internet to contact it’s mother ship. If you
are ever in doubt about the aims of software when
they’re trying to access the internet, just block them,
you can always unblock later when your web browser stops
working.
The sword will be our trusty virus
scanner. Once again, there are many free ones around
that will do quite nicely. They will sit there on your
machine, tirelessly scanning your storage areas for
nasty bits of code you may not know about, but are there
to cause mayhem and untold damage. When found, the
scanner will work magic to delete the infected items and
remove the source before the damage becomes too great.
Another tool that virus-free knight shouldn’t be
without is the spyware scanner. This handy utility can
be fired up once a week to perform a scan to check
whether any devious miscreants have slipped through and
are ruining our web viewing experience with annoying
pop-ups.
So, you see, it’s quite easy to protect
yourself. There are decent programs out there, produced
by people in shiny castles, which will help you sleep at
night. And, best of all, they’re so cheap they’re free!