Tech Talk

Today's topic is a suggestion from one of our readers in Oak Creek.

As many as 10 million American's a year are victims of identity theft.  And according to the FCC, it's only getting worse.  To fully understand how online identity theft works, we need to define a few terms

Virus - Ahh yes, the imfamous virus.  Chances are your computer has been infected or is infected with a virus right now.  So what is it?  A virus is a small computer program that attaches itself to other programs or files.  Virus are spread from computer to computer and their affects can range from the annoying to the downright catastrophic.  Most viruses are unknowingly transmitted via emails and email attachments, since viruses require human action to take affect.  What do you mean by human interaction?  Well, clicking on an email from an unknown sender for example. Or opening an email attachement you thought was a picture of your dog when in fact it was a virus mascarading itself as an image.

Worm - A worm is a sub-class of a virus.  However, unlike a virus, worms don't require human interaction to infect your computer. The biggest danger of a worm is its ability to replicate itself many times over.  For example, a worm could infect your system and comprimise your email contact list.  Each email you send is also infected by the worm.  The worm would reach each of your friends and infect their contact list as well.  The chain continues causing devastating effects.

Trojan Horse -  Trojans are the tricksters of the bunch.  They mascarade themselves as harmless software programs, like virus protection software.  Most people wouldn't think twice about using free virus protection software, right?  Trojans can be tricky to remove, since they hide themselves within your system as common elements.  Trojans do not reproduce nor do they self-replicate.

Spyware - Software that's installed unknowingly.  It's purpose is to track user activity, such as keyboard clicks or mouse clicks.  Personal information like credit cards numbers, passwords, and social security numbers are susceptible to spyware.

Adware - Software that's usually installed unknowingly.  Purpose is to feed you pop-up advertisements, change system configurations, and take you to websites that you normally wouldn't be interested in.

Malware - Software that's installed unknowingly.  Purpose is 100% malicious in nature.  Malware's intent is to open back doors on your computer to make your system susceptible to hackers.  Hackers will attempt to steal or comprimise your identity by looking for stored  passwords, usernames, and social security numbers.

Phishing - Phishing is a scam by which spam and pop-ups attempt to lure you into providing personal and financial information.  These types of scams typically mascarade themselves as service providers like AOL, Paypal, eBay and other online resources.  You'll get an email you think is from one these services asking you to re-provide your account information.  When you re-type your account information, you're actually sending your personal data to the scammer!

Are you starting to get a feel for how your personal identity could be comprimised using any of the above techniques?  How many of you have had experiences with a computer that just stopped working or started to slow down after time?  Have you ever opened an email from a sender you didn't know?  Have you ever replied to an email from someone asking you to re-provide your account information?  If you said yes to any of these, chances are your identity has been comprimised in some degree. 

Fortunately, there are a number of ways to protect yourself from these threats.  This list is no where near complete, but it highlights a few of the most important steps you can take in protecting yourself from identity theft.

How to prevent identity theft  

1. Ensure you have the latest software updates.  Operating systems, browsers, firewalls, anti-virus software and anti-spyware software should be updated frequently according to their user manuals.  Updating software ensures you have the most up-to-date protection against the newest and most common threats.
2. Install anti-virus and anti-spyware and be sure to use a firewall.  There are a number of popular anti-virus packages available.  There are also a number of high quality FREE anti-spyware programs readily available online.  My favorite is Ad-Aware by Lavasoft.  It can be downloaded at http://www.download.com.  Run these programs religiously!!!
3. Never open emails or attachments from unknown senders.
4. Never reply to anyone asking for account information, such as credit cards number, account numbers, social security numbers, etc...
5. Never send personal or account information via email.
6. Shred all personal paper documents.  Identity thieves will rummage through your garbage and collect personal information that can be used against you online.
7. Review credit card and bank account statments as soon as you receive them.  Check for any unauthorized charges or inaccuracies.
8. Forward Phishing emails to spam@uce.gov - and to the company, bank, or organization impersonated in the phishing email. You may also report phishing emails to reportphishing@antiphishing.org.
9. If you've been scammed, visit the Federal Trade Commission's Identity Theft website at http://ftc.gov/idtheft for further information.