How To Protect Your Identity When Throwing Out A Computer
Do you know what’s on the computer you are about to throw away? With identity theft on the rise, you don’t want to make it any easier to become an ID theft victim. I know for me, I have quit a bit of sensitive personal information on my computer. I’m sure you do too. Even if you don’t realize it, there is more than likely something on your computer that a criminal adapt at stealing someone’s identity can use.
If you are replacing your computer and are going to be getting rid of your old computer, you should completely erase the hard drive on your old computer before you trash it. You should know that it takes more than just deleting the files to erase your hard drive.
How To COMPLETELY Wipe The Data From Your Computer
Since, just deleting the information doesn’t really make our personal information gone, how does one remove their personal data from their computer so that it can’t be used for identity fraud purposes?
I’m glad you asked. There is software available that you can use to completely erase your computer’s hard drive. I should warn you though, if you use this software, you will lose this information FOREVER. If you want to save any information, make sure that you back it up to something before you use the software. You can buy this software at any computer store or you can go to http://www.dban.org and download a free version.
My husband used the free software and said that it worked like a charm. Of course, my husband is a computer guru of sorts and this sort of thing is pretty easy for him to do. But if you are like me and find yourself a little computer challenged, you can check out this video that explains how to use Darik’s Boot and Nuke software to erase your hard drive.
Identity Theft And Botnets
You have to love computers, they can make your life so much easier that is until they don’t. I have to thank a friend of mine, Connie Kiser, for bringing this to my attention. I had never heard of this before.
What is a Botnet
“Botnet” isn’t something from a science fiction movie, even though it sounds like it. Botnet is short for “robot network” . Basicly what it is a collection of computers that have been compromised to foward spam or viruses to other computers on the Internet.
Botnet and Cybercrime
Botnets are controlled by criminals whose motives are to sell products, operate financial scams, and cripple websites. Should you be concerned about botnets? Absolutely, because botnets can affect your computer whithout you ever even knowing about it. For the most part botnets are all about spam but Botnet attacks are increasing and they are getting more vicous.
Botnets and Identity Theft
Botnets also do more harm than just sending out massive amounts of spam. They are also used to collect unsuspecting user’s passwords, banking information, and credit card information. Cybercriminals use botnets to collect personal information and then that information can be used to build fake identities. Using these fake identities, the attackers can obtain access to your personal accounts or perform various operations (such as buying a car or committing a crime) and put the blame on the identity theft victim.
How to Avoid Botnets
There are some good computer practices that you should do in order to avoid botnets.
- Update your computer regularly with security updates
- Use a good spam filter
- Install and use firewall protection
- Do Not click on questionable links in emails or on websites that you are not sure of
Botnets are out there and you have to be careful not to get caught up in the cybercrime web. Use good computer security practices and avoid suspicious email. Watch out for phishing scams and never click on anything that you aren’t sure of. If you are in doubt, just don’t click.
Here is a list of the top 10 botnets.
America’s 10 most wanted botnets
From: www.itworld.com
No. 1: Zeus
Compromised U.S. computers: 3.6 million
Main crime use: The Zeus Trojan uses key-logging techniques to steal sensitive data such as user names, passwords, account numbers and credit card numbers. It injects fake HTML forms into online banking login pages to steal user data.
No. 2: Koobface
Compromised U.S. computers: 2.9 million
Main crime use: This malware spreads via social networking
sites MySpace and Facebook with faked messages or comments from “friends.” When a user is enticed into clicking on a provided link to view a video, the user is prompted to obtain a necessary update, like a codec — but it’s really malware that can take control over the computer.
No. 3: TidServ
Compromised U.S. computers: 1.5 million
Main crime use: This downloader Trojan spreads through spam e-mail, arriving as an attachment. It uses rootkit techniques to run inside common Windows services (sometimes bundled with fake antivirus software) or in Windows safe mode, and it can hide most of its files and registry entries.
No. 4: Trojan.Fakeavalert
Compromised U.S. computers: 1.4 million
Main crime use: Formerly used for spamming, this botnet has shifted to downloading other malware, with its main focus on fake alerts and rogue antivirus software.
No. 5: TR/Dldr.Agent.JKH
Compromised U.S. computers: 1.2 million
Main crime use: This remote Trojan posts encrypted data back to its command-and-control domains and periodically receives instruction. Often loaded by other malware, TR/Dldr.Agent.JKH currently is used as a clickbot, generating ad revenue for the botmaster through constant ad-specific activity.
No. 6: Monkif
Compromised U.S. computers: 520,000
Main crime use: This crimeware’s current focus is downloading an adware BHO (browser helper object) onto a compromised system.
No. 7: Hamweq
Compromised U.S. computers: 480,000
Main crime use: Also known as IRCBrute, or an autorun worm, this backdoor worm makes copies of itself on the system and any removable drive it finds — and anytime the removable drives are accessed, it executes automatically. An effective spreading mechanism, Hamweq creates registry entries to enable its automatic execution at every startup and injects itself into Explorer.exe. The botmaster using it can execute commands on and receive information from the compromised system.
No. 8: Swizzor
Compromised U.S. computers: 370,000
Main crime use: A variant of the Lop malware, this Trojan dropper can download and launch files from the Internet on the victim’s machine without the user’s knowledge, installing an adware program and other Trojans.
No. 9: Gammima
Compromised U.S. computers: 230,000
Main crime use: Also know as Gamina, Gamania, Frethog, Vaklik and Krap, this crimeware focuses on stealing online game logins, passwords and account information. It uses rootkit techniques to load into the address space of other common processes, such as Explorer.exe, and will spread through removable media such as USB keys. It’s also known to be the worm that got into the International Space Station in the summer of 2008.
No. 10: Conficker
Compromised U.S. computers: 210,000
Main crime use: Also called Downadup, this downloader worm has spread significantly throughout the world, though not so much in the U.S. It’s a complex downloader used to propagate other malware. Though it has been used to sell fake antivirus software, this crimeware currently seems to have no real purpose other than to spread. Industry watchers fear a more dangerous purpose will emerge.
Network World
What Is Cybercrime
Cybercrime is any crime committed using a computer and the internet. Cybercrime covers everything from fraud, identity theft, to stealing millions from people’s bank accounts. Even downloading music and movies illegally is considered to be cybercrime.
Cybercrime is becoming more common today because so much information can travel over the internet. Computers and the Internet have made our lives easier in a lot of ways but we have to be a lot more careful with our personal information today than ever before.
Possibly the most common form of cybercrime is identity theft. Cybercriminals use the Internet to steal or illegally obtain personal information from others. The two most common ways cybercriminals obtain this information is through “phishing” and “pharming”.
Phishing is usually done by sending an email that claims to be from a legitimate organization, such as a bank, and directs the user to an “official looking” website where you are then asked to provide your personal information.
Pharming is a where malicious code is unknowingly installed on your computer and it misdirects you to fraudulent websites. Pharming has become a major concern to businesses hosting ecommerce and online banking websites.
Identity thieves operate in very ingenious ways and with today’s technology; it’s easier for an identity thief to get the information they need.
How to protect yourself from Phishing and Pharming Scams
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Don’t respond to any email that is asking you for personal information. Just delete it. Legitimate organization may send you offers via email but they do NOT send emails asking for your personal information.
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Check the spam filter on your email account to make sure that it is set to remove these types of emails. CAUTION: some will probably get through anyway.
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If you don’t know for sure if it is legitimate, pick up the phone and call your customer service representative before you do anything foolish.
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Use anti-virus protection and keep it up to date. It’s may not be 100% effective but it will stop most cases.
What to do if you’ve been scammed
If you think you may have given your login and password information away in error to a service or financial institution, contact the institution immediately and inform them that you were a victim of identity fraud. Change that password everywhere you may have used it.
If you gave your personal information such at credit card or Social Security number, ask the 3 major credit bureaus to place identity theft fraud alerts on your credit file. Close any accounts you think may have been tampered with and report the incident to your local police department. You will also need to complete an ID Theft Affidavit and file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.
