Your Money and Your Life - Gone in Sixty Seconds Flat!

Cybercrime is on the rise. Your Money and Your Life: Gone in Sixty Seconds Flat! "How?", you ask. OK, let me elaborate on a few of the many ways cybercriminals steal your money, and, literally, your life and they can do so in seconds, not minutes, or hours.

• You may not be the only one using your computer. Cybercriminals known as hackers may be using your computers and you may not even know it. Would you ever know if your computer were taken over and being used by a hacker? Not likely. When a hacker hijacks a computer, the victim rarely knows. A computer that has been hijacked is one that is completely taken over by a hacker, or a group of hackers, to be used for their own purposes. The idea is that the real owner of the computer never knows their system has been hijacked, so the hackers can secretly use it whenever and however they want.
  
  
• Personal information is now so readily available that a total stranger with nothing more than an online connection and a credit card could discover everything there is to know about you. He or she could compile a complete dossier on you, your family members, friends, work associates, or business rivals without any special investigative training.
  
  
• Fears about identity theft are not limited to spyware or to records stolen from corporate databases. As it turns out, the neighbor next door can be just as big a concern. "Definitely, using the Internet to spy on average citizens is our next big social problem," said Avivah Litan, security analyst for identity-theft issues at the research firm Gartner.
  
  
• One of the latest hacking trends is called "Drive-by Hacking". Popular wireless Internet access points have now become a major target for hackers. Hackers simply take their laptop computers in their cars and drive through business parks or residential neighborhoods remotely scanning for open wireless networks. This is the latest version of the drive-by garage door remote theft where criminal would use universal remote controls to open garage doors without arousing the suspicions of neighbors, police, or home security companies.
  
  
• The new trend recently discovered: online hazards in hotels. Authorities are becoming alarmed at the number of traveler-victims who have reported that their personal or financial information was stolen after they had used a computer in a hotel's business center. It seems like the criminal use keylogging software to record the victim's key strokes. See related Story: ABC News Video: Online Hazards in Hotels.

Article Source: http://www.new.citynewslive.com

Etienne A. Gibbs, Internet Security Advocate and Educator, consults with individuals, small business owners, and home-business entrepreneurs regarding online protection against spyware, viruses, malware, hackers, and other pc-disabling cybercrimes. For more information, visit www.SayNotoHackersandSpyware.com/.

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