If you do your holiday shopping online, don’t let the coziness of your home fool you into thinking that everything is okay. Your life is still in danger. Hackers, crackers, spammers, and thieves all want the same thing – your money, your life – and more. They want your credit cards, bank accounts, social security numbers, club cards, names, addresses, medical records, and money. You name it, they want it.
So how do these villains get this information from your life? Lots of ways, but we will focus on three.
1. Malware. Viruses, spyware, Trojans, and all the other malicious tools out there come together to steal your information. Once a computer gets infected with these malware programs, they can steal any information you put into your computer. When you purchase that new blanket that looks like a backwards robe you have been dying for with your credit card, the attacker gets your card too. Most of the time, the user won’t even know they are infected. There are no symptoms. The last thing a virus that steals information wants is to be detected. The usual annoying pop-ups and other tell-tale signs of infection just aren’t there.
2. Fake/fraudulent Websites. Spam can go along in this category. Most times users visit these malicious sites due to spam. You get an email from your favorite department store advertising a deal that would be crazy to pass up. You click the link to go to the deal online and purchase the holy grail of all deals. Days pass, then weeks and you still haven’t gotten your order. Then you check your credit card to see if the order processed only to find that it has been maxed out by purchases you never made. You just got scammed. The same can happen to your bank accounts. Attackers set up very legitimate looking websites to trick you into thinking that you are on the real site. The layout, colors, and logos are all perfectly placed. Even the shopping cart looks real. But it is just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
3. Non-patched Software. If you have heard of zero-day attacks, this is how they are so effective. They find holes in a program that has not been fixed yet and send all sorts of attacks out there to compromise as many machines as possible before the holes are patched. From the operating system, to software installed on the computer, they are all vulnerable if not properly updated. A lot has been in the news about Adobe and the exploits that have been found.
So how do these villains get this information from your life? Lots of ways, but we will focus on three.
1. Malware. Viruses, spyware, Trojans, and all the other malicious tools out there come together to steal your information. Once a computer gets infected with these malware programs, they can steal any information you put into your computer. When you purchase that new blanket that looks like a backwards robe you have been dying for with your credit card, the attacker gets your card too. Most of the time, the user won’t even know they are infected. There are no symptoms. The last thing a virus that steals information wants is to be detected. The usual annoying pop-ups and other tell-tale signs of infection just aren’t there.
2. Fake/fraudulent Websites. Spam can go along in this category. Most times users visit these malicious sites due to spam. You get an email from your favorite department store advertising a deal that would be crazy to pass up. You click the link to go to the deal online and purchase the holy grail of all deals. Days pass, then weeks and you still haven’t gotten your order. Then you check your credit card to see if the order processed only to find that it has been maxed out by purchases you never made. You just got scammed. The same can happen to your bank accounts. Attackers set up very legitimate looking websites to trick you into thinking that you are on the real site. The layout, colors, and logos are all perfectly placed. Even the shopping cart looks real. But it is just a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
3. Non-patched Software. If you have heard of zero-day attacks, this is how they are so effective. They find holes in a program that has not been fixed yet and send all sorts of attacks out there to compromise as many machines as possible before the holes are patched. From the operating system, to software installed on the computer, they are all vulnerable if not properly updated. A lot has been in the news about Adobe and the exploits that have been found.
0 comments:
Post a Comment