December 11,2008
-
Gone Phishing, Pt.3 –
- Steps to happiness online.Originally, spyware was just little more than a nuisance. But demented minds never sleep and there's no rest for the wicked. Today, spyware has become very malicious. It can wreck your business, if you depend on your computer. It can fill your screen with ‘popups' ten times faster than you can keep up with them. Porn aside, money is the object of desire today. Credit card theft is so successful that the black market credit card moguls descended on Washington last month in their private jets (bought with stolen credit cards) to solicit a government bailout for their declining profits. Audacity, perhaps, only rivaled by the automakers. (For the story, please refer to the article entitled: "Why Do You Think They Call it ‘Bail Money'?").
These sleazes will even go so far as to use your computer as a host to broadcast ‘spam' to other innocent people. Even children are not spared. As they sit at home these holidays, intriguing themselves, downloading neat Christmas screensavers, games, puzzles and even cute cell phone ringtones, they're also innocently infecting your computer and stealing your sensitive credit card info. So here are some helpful pointers to keep your season merry, as it should be:
1) Keep your guard up. Make sure your computer is constantly under the protection of reputable security software, such as Norton's (Symantec) anti-sleezeball products. Anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti ad-ware, anti-email intrusion, anti-spam, anti-popup, firewalls, proxies, etc. If you must temporarily disable any of these features, make careful note to re-enable them ASAP. Even though they usually re-enable themselves automatically, some sleezys have found ways to prevent that from happening. Meanwhile, they spend all night phishing for credit card info.
2) Watch out for ‘close-conterfeit' websites. Names like "Best.Best.com", when you expect "Best.com" may appear innocent enough but they are not. Don't even try "NASA.com" when you actually want "NASA.gov". Just don't so it. Pay particular attention where credit card information is involved. Secure and respected sites like Amazon and PayPal are commonly counterfeited.