My Blog

July 28, 2007

Hackers

Director: Iain Softley

Actors: Jonny Lee Miller; Angelina Jolie; Jesse Bradford; Matthew Lillard; Laurence Mason

Just like the movie Hackers real life hackers are out there waiting to steal or vandalize your information technology. (aka your personal computer) Online applications and search engines are making it easier to mine information from regular people. Privacy settings on Facebook may not be enough to keep your data safe. This may not be a concern for you now, but it could be in the future. Identity theft is on the rise. Governemts are collecting more and more data (or data mining).  Social networking websites like Nexopia, Facebook, Myspace and Orkut could make it easy for black hat hackers or sexual predators to gain access to private information. One of the dangers is that your pictures and information will end up in the wrong hands. You may not even know about it until it is tool late. Click this link to watch a video about Facebook's license to use your personal information for what ever they want. Users need to be more diligent when it comes to personal information security on the internet. Ultimently you are responsible!

What can you do about it?

1. Download some good software to help you.
   

• Wipe Totally erase your hard disk, floppies etc...If you give your old computer away make sure you have the hard disk wiped completely because you cannot be too careful with your personal information.
• Ccleaner: Clean up your MS Windows installation
• Windows Defender
• Firefox Web Browser
  
• Home User's Security Checklist