PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER
· Your computer can be goldmine of personal information to an identity thief.
· Here’s how you can safeguard your computer and the personal information it stores:
· Update your virus protection software regularly. Computer viruses can have a variety of damaging effects, including introducing program code that causes your computer to send out files or other stored information. Look for security repairs and patches you can download from your operating system’s Web site. Don’t download files from strangers or click on hyperlinks from people you don’t know. Never respond to email messages from people you don’t know. Opening a file could expose your system to a computer virus or a program that could hijack your computer.
· Use a firewall, especially if you have a high-speed or “always on” connection to the Internet. The firewall allows you to limit uninvited access to your computer. Without a firewall, hackers can take over your computer and access sensitive information.
· Use a secure browser — software that encrypts or scrambles information you send over the Internet — to guard the safety of your online transactions. When you’re submitting information, look for the “lock” icon on the status bar. It’s a symbol that your information is secure during transmission.
· Try not to store financial information on a laptop unless absolutely necessary. If you do, use a “strong” password —that is, a combination of letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and symbols. Avoid using an automatic login feature that saves your user name and password; and always log off when you’re finished. If your laptop gets stolen, the thief will have a hard time accessing sensitive information.
· Delete any personal information stored on your computer before you dispose of it. Use a “wipe” utility program, which overwrites the entire hard drive and makes the files unrecoverable. Read Web site privacy policies. They should answer questions about the accessto and accuracy, security, and control of personal information the site collects, as well as how sensitive information will be used, and whether it will be provided to third parties send out files or other stored
·
Spoofing is the act of using
one computer to impersonate another. E-mail spoofing is the
forgery of an e-mail header so that the message
appears to have originated from someone or somewhere other than the actual
source. Distributors of spam often use spoofing in an
attempt to get recipients to open, and possibly even respond to, their
solicitations. Spoofing can be used legitimately. Classic examples of senders who
might prefer to disguise the source of the e-mail include a sender reporting
mistreatment by a spouse to a welfare agency or a "whistle-blower"
who fears retaliation. Spoofing anyone other than yourself is illegal in most
venues.
· Phishing is the act of attempting to fraudulently acquire through deception sensitive personal information such as passwords and credit card details by masquerading in an official-looking email, IM, etc. as someone trustworthy with a real need for such information. (e.g. you receive an email from your VISA account bank requesting you verify your account information. They’re really trying to get you to give them the account information)
· Pharming is the exploitation of a vulnerability in the internet software that allows a hacker to acquire an internet site, and to redirect traffic for that web site to another web site.(e.g. thief steals www.yourbank.com and reroutes your banking information to the thief’s website. It would require you to be engaging in an online bank transaction)