Your webcam, cell phone, web browsers, and personal e-mails are all vulnerable to attack from thieves in cyberspace. Here are four ways to fight back.
By Joe Pappalardo
Published in the January 2009
Webcams
Webcams are only as secure as the computer theyre connected to, says computer security expert John Pironti of Getronics, and many computers arent very secure. Plenty of software exists in the hacker community and even on the open market that can allow stalkers and other miscreants to remotely control your computer. According to the Internet-security watchdog group Shadowserver, more than 15 million computers are currently hijacked without the knowledge of their owners. If a hacker has root-level access to your computer, he can monitor or control any peripheral gear, from your iPod to your webcam to your printer.
How to Fight Back: The usual computer safety advice applies. Make sure you have up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software. Plus, make sure your firewall is turned on (check your operating systems security settings). Pay attention to your computer: If peripherals turn on randomly, do a spyware scan immediately. And if you are concerned about a digital peeping Tom, remember, even the most sophisticated webcam hijacker cant see through a piece of black tape.
Cellphones
Many newer cellphones come with built-in GPS antennas and have the capability to broadcast their location. Many smart phones can run hidden tracking software. This sends your location in real time and can allow someone else to remotely read your text messages and call logs and even use your phones microphone as a bug to hear your conversations.
New mobile social-networking services such as Loopt and Whrrl encourage users to share location data to get information about local restaurants and nearby friends, but those services also reserve the right to share your location and personal info with their business partners.
Even a cellphone without a GPS antenna can be tracked by triangulating its location from cellphone towers. Although this capability was designed to help first responders locate 911 calls, it is routinely used by law-enforcement agencies to track suspects.
How to Fight Back: Treat your cellphone like your wallet, and dont give it to anyone you dont trust. Before signing up for any location-aware cell service, check the privacy policy closely to see how they use your information. When you dont want your location broadcast, go to your phones menu and turn off location servicesor better yet, turn off your phone altogether.
Web Browsing
Web tracking is big business. Shopping sites, online publications, advertisers, search engines and government agencies all collect information about your surfing habits. The information-collection mechanism of choice for aggregating browsing info is the tracking cookie, a small, unique bit of code that identifies you when you visit a site. Some cookies are temporary, remaining on your computer only as long as your visit to a site lasts. Persistent cookies, however, stay on your computer to track return visits as well as visits to partner sites. Why so much tracking? The point is to establish a profile of you as a consumer. That helps marketers and content providers deliver more targeted information and advertising.
How to Fight Back: Open your browsers options or preferences and show cookies, then prepare to be astounded. You are likely to find hundreds, if not thousands, of these markers. In your privacy settings, you can simply turn cookies off, but that may keep some Web services from working correctly. At the very least, turn off third-party cookies to ensure that only the sites you visit can send cookies to your computer. For sessions where you want complete privacy, look for a private surfing option on your browser.
E-Mail
E-mail messages are just like digital postcards. They can be intercepted and read, says Brian Czarny, an e-mail security expert at Webroot. Many people treat e-mail as a private conversation between themselves and the recipient, but most e-mail travels as plain text that is easily readable at any of the routers or e-mail servers it stops at on its way to delivery. Some users have switched to online e-mail accounts in recent years. Services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail digitally scan the contents of your e-mail to deliver context-­appropriate ads. And, like most content stored in the data cloud, online e-mail doesnt have the same legal protections as e-mail stored on your home computer. To search the contents of your computer, law enforcement officials must first have a warrant to search your home, but access to online content requires only a court order to your e-mail provider.
How to Fight Back: The only way to keep your e-mail private is to encrypt it with software such as Mozillas Thunderbird e-mail program equipped with the Enigmail plug-in. For connecting to online e-mail, check your accounts preferences and select connect using https if available. This wont encrypt your e-mail, but it will at least encrypt your connection to your e-mail account.
KUTOKA YAHOO
By Joe Pappalardo
Published in the January 2009
Webcams
Webcams are only as secure as the computer theyre connected to, says computer security expert John Pironti of Getronics, and many computers arent very secure. Plenty of software exists in the hacker community and even on the open market that can allow stalkers and other miscreants to remotely control your computer. According to the Internet-security watchdog group Shadowserver, more than 15 million computers are currently hijacked without the knowledge of their owners. If a hacker has root-level access to your computer, he can monitor or control any peripheral gear, from your iPod to your webcam to your printer.
How to Fight Back: The usual computer safety advice applies. Make sure you have up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software. Plus, make sure your firewall is turned on (check your operating systems security settings). Pay attention to your computer: If peripherals turn on randomly, do a spyware scan immediately. And if you are concerned about a digital peeping Tom, remember, even the most sophisticated webcam hijacker cant see through a piece of black tape.
Cellphones
Many newer cellphones come with built-in GPS antennas and have the capability to broadcast their location. Many smart phones can run hidden tracking software. This sends your location in real time and can allow someone else to remotely read your text messages and call logs and even use your phones microphone as a bug to hear your conversations.
New mobile social-networking services such as Loopt and Whrrl encourage users to share location data to get information about local restaurants and nearby friends, but those services also reserve the right to share your location and personal info with their business partners.
Even a cellphone without a GPS antenna can be tracked by triangulating its location from cellphone towers. Although this capability was designed to help first responders locate 911 calls, it is routinely used by law-enforcement agencies to track suspects.
How to Fight Back: Treat your cellphone like your wallet, and dont give it to anyone you dont trust. Before signing up for any location-aware cell service, check the privacy policy closely to see how they use your information. When you dont want your location broadcast, go to your phones menu and turn off location servicesor better yet, turn off your phone altogether.
Web Browsing
Web tracking is big business. Shopping sites, online publications, advertisers, search engines and government agencies all collect information about your surfing habits. The information-collection mechanism of choice for aggregating browsing info is the tracking cookie, a small, unique bit of code that identifies you when you visit a site. Some cookies are temporary, remaining on your computer only as long as your visit to a site lasts. Persistent cookies, however, stay on your computer to track return visits as well as visits to partner sites. Why so much tracking? The point is to establish a profile of you as a consumer. That helps marketers and content providers deliver more targeted information and advertising.
How to Fight Back: Open your browsers options or preferences and show cookies, then prepare to be astounded. You are likely to find hundreds, if not thousands, of these markers. In your privacy settings, you can simply turn cookies off, but that may keep some Web services from working correctly. At the very least, turn off third-party cookies to ensure that only the sites you visit can send cookies to your computer. For sessions where you want complete privacy, look for a private surfing option on your browser.
E-mail messages are just like digital postcards. They can be intercepted and read, says Brian Czarny, an e-mail security expert at Webroot. Many people treat e-mail as a private conversation between themselves and the recipient, but most e-mail travels as plain text that is easily readable at any of the routers or e-mail servers it stops at on its way to delivery. Some users have switched to online e-mail accounts in recent years. Services such as Gmail and Yahoo Mail digitally scan the contents of your e-mail to deliver context-­appropriate ads. And, like most content stored in the data cloud, online e-mail doesnt have the same legal protections as e-mail stored on your home computer. To search the contents of your computer, law enforcement officials must first have a warrant to search your home, but access to online content requires only a court order to your e-mail provider.
How to Fight Back: The only way to keep your e-mail private is to encrypt it with software such as Mozillas Thunderbird e-mail program equipped with the Enigmail plug-in. For connecting to online e-mail, check your accounts preferences and select connect using https if available. This wont encrypt your e-mail, but it will at least encrypt your connection to your e-mail account.
KUTOKA YAHOO
