There are thousands of internet criminals out there just waiting for the opportunity to compromise the security of your computer and the safety of your information. Don’t let this happen to you!
Emails and advertisements are often sent by thieves, offering lucrative rewards. As I’m writing this, my friend is looking at me telling me about an ad talking about a free disney vacation! The culprit will ask for your personal information (such as home address, name, phone number, credit card number, or even social security number) in order to see if you “qualify for the offer,” but don’t be fooled- this information can be used to steal your identity and can ruin your credit, and put you hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt. Less as serious (but compromising to the user’s reputation) consequences can also happen after entering your information on “fake” websites with the same layout as the real website. This problem has become so
big that MySpace at one point put up an announcement on their main page, warning people about the dangers of this, and on the Flickr Blog, there was a post that warns of "fake Flickr pages" here.(on the Left: A typical phishing email. My friend's father actually fell for something just like this a couple years back: Luckily, he caught it before it was too late
On the Right: Myspace Login Page (click to see larger)
Another danger of the internet is the infamous virus/worm spreader.
Attachments to emails (using the facade of an innocent word document, mp3 file, etc.) can often release malicious viruses that can attack the computer and render your technology useless. Just this month, an email claiming to be from MSNBC links to a page which asks you to download a trojan horse virus, and in 2006, a similar email claiming to be from the BBC was sent.
Spyware can also be installed, tracking your every move and storing all information, including passwords and credit card numbers that you send on perfectly legitimate websites.
According to an investigation in Time Magazine, it's possible to get your identity stolen in a matter of minutes, in many different ways.
Your information may be sold from either a phishing site or by someone sifted through your garbage and found a preapproved credit card application.
The information you send to legitimate websites could be tracked by a "cookie," which is a tool used to retrieve information sent during each of your visits.
Or it could be hacked, like what happened back in 2000, when egghead.com's customer databased was hacked, leaving 3.7 million people's information compromised, or in 1999, when online music seller CD Universe lost more than 300,000 people's credit card info to a Russian thief. This month, a British man named Gary McKinnon is actually being tried for hacking into USA's NASA database!
Total strangers are watching you in everyday life - Even at friendly sites like coffee shops with wi-fi, strangers could be looking over your shoulder looking at your info as you type.
So what can you do to prevent this from happening?
Some tips:
* Never trust emails from sources that seem fishy. If you get one that you’re not sure about, look at the domain name the email comes from (ex. @facebook.com, @ paypal.com)
* Don’t download files from places you don’t trust. For word documents, utilize the preview tool at the bottom (or top, if you’re using gmail) to make sure it’s not a virus. Also, don’t download things with .exe as the extension.
* Always look at the website name at the top of your browser, and make sure your information is being sent to the official website. For example, don’t enter your myspace login at any website name that doesn’t start with http://www.myspace.com
*Remember that your social networking profiles aren't private spaces: be careful of what you put on them, because anybody can see the info.
*Shred any mail that might have important details before throwing it way.
*When using and leaving your computer out in public, make sure that you can trust the people you're surrounded by.
(some tips paraphrased from AntiPhishing.org. To read the full article, click here)
With a few extra precautions like these, the chances of getting your identity and property damaged are far lower.
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