Hacking and Ways to Protect Ourselves

Hacking information from computers is a broad way of gaining information illegally. Some of us may not be familiar with the term hacker. A hacker is a computer expert who’s main goal is to find ways to break into other computer systems and gain information. They can then steal information and cause problems for the system. In today’s high tech world, these hackers are becoming more of a dangerous nuisance.

Recently the Wall Street Journal came out with a new article discussing the detection of a new hacking attack. A computer-security company discovered a breach of information in 2,411 companies and government agencies where large amounts of personal and corporate information were stolen, ranging from credit card transactions to databases and email account access. Apparently it had been a coordinated global hacking attack that had taken place over the past 18 months in both Europe and China. It’s still unclear how far the damage spreads. Sometimes these criminal groups have even stolen information of employees’ criminal involvement and used it for extortion. So how was this done? Spyware was used to control computers remotely. These attacks are not blocked by the standard antivirus software. Obviously, there are some weaknesses in the security of cyberspace (Read the full article here).

What lesson do we need to learn from this? Almost everyone uses a computer whether it’s to write emails or purchase products or store information. We need to understand how our machine or network can be attacked and then educate ourselves on how to best protect ourselves from these hackers. Here’s a little more information on how hackers can control computers remotely. There are scanner programs that ping IP addresses of networked systems to see if the system is running. Firewall software can show these repeated pings when reviewing the log. Weaknesses can be revealed through some of these scanning programs and hackers can spy on the information passing between the machines. These hackers can then use the internet to share lists of exposed IP addresses where there are security breaches. Sometimes the owner has no idea that this is occurring.

How can we protect ourselves?

• Firewall. When hackers are probing to see which systems are up, a firewall will mask this so it appears as if your system is not up.


• Antivirus Software, including anti Trojan software. A Trojan virus installs other software on your computer system. Run it every week so that you can detect any new viruses.


• Anti-Spyware Software. Spyware installs on your computer without your knowledge. These software programs can track your activity and even cause pop-ups on your computer. Sometimes several anti-spyware software programs will have to be used to rid the variety of spyware programs out there.


• Caution with Emails and use Passwords. Nowadays I routinely get emails from strangers claiming they’ve inherited a fortune and they really need my help in spending it. Don’t ever give personal information away to strangers in emails and never open email attachments with executable files unless you can trust the sender. There are always new upcoming scams when it comes to emails. But follow these two rules to protect yourself.


• Routinely backup Important Material. This will protect you if you ever were to lose sensitive files, documents or photos.


• Use Identity Theft Protection Services. This enables us to monitor our personal information -- credit scores, new accounts opened -- so in the worse-case scenario, if our information has been compromised, we will know immediately.

With the advance in technology, there are so many incredible benefits. You can send photos or letters thousands of miles away with the touch of a button. Information about any subject is at our fingertips, no longer requiring you to sift through countless books at the library or pulling the dusty encyclopedias from the shelves. As with any promising progression, there’s always the darker side. And in this computer-savvy modern society, they can come in the form of criminal hackers. Just use caution and the good guys will continue to find ways to protect us from the bad guys.