Tuesday, October 6, 2009

In case you haven't heard: Gmail, AOL, Yahoo, Hotmail password hack

Click this link for the article http://bit.ly/2g978x  Our tech for discreet computer services has already repaired several infected computers, stemming from phishing attacks on individual accounts.  If you don't already have a good virus software, there's a free version of AVG, or Avast to protect you. Also have Zone Alarm installed as a firewall. StopZilla has also been great for catching attempts to hijack user's home pages etc.  (We receive no affiliate commissions for these, but we do use them ourselves) Always look up on top of your browser for the URL to make sure the site you're visiting is truly owned by a company, such as Ebay, PayPal, your bank etc.  Phishing scams are clever and they dupe even smart people like yourself.  You know how it is, you're in a hurry to get through emails and you click without paying much attention.  Take your time and be very careful at what items you click.

While you can't stop hackers who get info straight from email providers, you can take measures yourself such as changing passwords often, setting your emails to receive text only (no images) or html that can have  program running which will compromise your computer.

Programs can be hidden in pictures, and if you click on an image, you can unknowingly open your computer to a host of hackers, viruses etc. Again, if you have kids using computers, start teaching them about these things.  If your teens are computer savvy, they may have a thing or two to teach you!

No email is ever totally secure, however there are smaller paid email services out there who are very difficult to hack, and mostly don't get hacked because the phishers don't want to work that hard.  Look around for one main email to be used for important items.  Don't use the same email account for everything.  Use the freebie accounts such as Yahoo or AOL for your Twitter, Facebook or MySpace accounts.  As for MySpace especially where you can be looked up by your email address, use a totally different email than you normally use for anything else.  Don't allow MySpace to list you by your real name, age or location.  It all depends how much privacy you want.

Case in point, there was a person threatening others on Craigslist.  They were stupid enough to email threats from their email account.  Investigator simply types in that email into MySpace and gets a full account of where the person lives, their family photos etc.  Stupid is as stupid does.  Yes using multiple emails is a pain, but there are several free programs out there now where you can check all of them at once.  Small price to pay for maintaining your privacy.  For now, consider changing your passwords. When you do, don't pick something predictable.  Pick something abastract such as when you have to type in those Capcha phrases.  Pick something odd that no one will guess.  You can't be 100% safe online but you can be pro-active.

What's my IP?