Identity
Theft
At
some point in our lives, we all have most likely been exposed to possible
attempts at identity theft. As we’ve covered in class, this occurs
when somebody tried to steal our personal information to use for their own
gain. For me personally, my computer suffered a near-disastrous viral infection
from a rogue anti-spyware program called pc optimizer pro last fall. This
program seemed legitimate at first, as it claimed to be able help “tweak,
repair enhance and protect” my PC. The publisher of this software was not known
to me, and I failed to consider the risk that downloading this software would
pose.
Rather
than actually be an anti-spyware program, pc optimizer pro tried to tell me
that my computer’s legitimate systems files were causing infections and needed
to be removed. I saw constant pop-ups of virus infection alerts even when
nothing seemed to be wrong. My computer’s system performance began to decline
drastically and it turned out later that PC Optimizer Pro is actually a fake
antivirus program created to steal one’s bank account information, and possibly
make purchases under my name without me even knowing, which fits the criteria
of financial identity fraud. Had I
agreed to download the full version of the software, the harmful aforementioned
software would have had an easy pathway onto my computer for automatically
downloading other rogue programs that I was unfamiliar with. Fortunately, the
slow system performance that I noticed prevented me from purchasing the full
version of the software.
It
is always important to pay attention to our words and actions, because they can
be interpreted in many different ways. If people believe that we’re lying, we will
lose credibility either way. As our class reading “New Threats to your Privacy”
covered, there is always somebody watching us and is constantly aware of what
we do. Putting the wrong information out on the web can easily make us victims
of things such as Phishing. This
means that we constantly receive potentially unwanted messages regarding issues
that we don’t feel even feel are important to us.
In
a similar manner, I tried to scour the web for extra web browsers which I felt
were faster and had more to offer for my computer. To do so, I simply went onto
Google and typed in ‘new internet browser’. I clicked on the first option to
pop up because I felt that that browser (which was called Comodo Dragon) was
faster and more secure. The reviews even said so themselves. However, the
outcome was quite the opposite of what the reviews had said. Soon after, I
began to constantly see advertisements pop up everywhere each time I opened a
web page up. It became impossible to browse normally for almost an entire
month. The advertisements were being caused by a browser hijacker known as
Search Protect by Conduit.
Since
getting rid of this of my older computer, I have become extremely paranoid when
it comes to safeguarding my personal info on the web. Once the information is
put out, it is under the ownership of the website and they are free to do what
they please with it. One of the ways I have done that is I have made it a habit
for me to change the password on my iPhone once every few weeks.
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