USA TODAY reports, "Many consumers and small businesses naively believe online transactions are safe if they use a firewall, keep anti-virus software updated and follow security  tips posted on banking websites."

 

82.7% of all PCs are infected with spyware, even if they have installed the popular off-the-shelf antivirus programs.  These spyware programs can capture and transmit your username and password to a data thief. 

 

Consumers are protected by federal laws that limit their fraud losses to $50.00.  But banks limit liability to businesses. Internet criminals increasingly target small businesses, because small business can't afford to spend the big money to be protected like big corporations.

 

Find out how to protect your computer.  Free report.  www.Internet-Security-Report.com

A pest you might never suspect is a web dialer.  "A web dialer is a spyware program that resides on your computer and calls numbers in other parts of the country or world without your consent.  Web dialers often call chat lines in the middle of the night to escape detection.  You may discover you have a web dialer only when the next phone bill arrives, and you have thousands of dollars in long distance charges for calls you didn't make." (www.verizon.net)

Grandma knew better than to open an attachment,and she didn't, but she clicked on a link in her e-mail.  A small trojan trotted in and opened a port to a hacker.  It downloaded a program that drafted her computer into an army of bots......  And grandma's computer is rented out to spammers, distributers of pornography, and attackers on web sites.  Business might even hire bots to bring down a competitor's website.  An army of bots, accessing a web site, can overwhelm it.  And grandma is unaware a hacker is using a small portion of her computer. 

Think about this for a minute.  172 thousand computers a day are taken over by hackers.  Learn how to keep your computer safe.

 

 Phishing - They cast the bait with an e-mail and you bite when you click on a link.  For example, an e-mail apparently from your bank or PayPal,  may request you click on a link and give your password.  Then you are requested to give more information.  Unsuspecting people may give social security numbers or credit card information.  Don't click on any kind of link in an e-mail message.  Always navigate to a site by typing the address into the URL bar.

Pharming - You type in the correct address, it shows up as correct in the URL bar, and you go to a web page that looks right. But a criminal hacker has redirected all traffic from this website to a new site.  Everything looks just fine.  The spoofed site uses the HTTPS protocol so that the browser shows the standard "lock" icon designating a secure site.  And you hand over your personal information to a criminal.

If your browser comes up with a warning box, click NO!  Don't trust the site.