Password Fraud

Graham Roberts Home Computer Services

Reputable & reliable computer repairs and servicing for Barlborough, Clowne, Bolsover & surrounding villages.

Email Passwords and identity fraud! December 2009

More than 30,000 users of internet services including Google's Gmail, Yahoo Mail and AOL have fallen victim to a giant email phishing scam. Earlier this week a list of 10,000 passwords for Hotmail accounts was published on an internet message board and yesterday another list containing 20,000 email addresses and passwords. Hackers obtained the passwords by setting up fake websites identical to Hotmail, Gmail and Yahoo etc. It is thought that the information could be used by fraudsters to access email accounts and steal personal information. Experts feared that other email accounts will be targeted.

What to watch out for.

Infected accounts are sending personalised e-mails to contacts suggesting shopping sites, which are in fact fakes. These sites may ask you for personal details which will then be passed onto criminals. In some cases, you could even be infected with viruses or mal-ware called “key-loggers”, which when on an unprotected computer will be able to get personal information off your PC (like bank account details and passwords )without your knowledge.

What can I do to protect myself?

	· If in doubt contact your friends and ask them if they have sent the recommendation before visiting any new shopping sites (or for that matter, any site if you are in doubt).
	· At the top of the website, any site that asks you for personal details should begin with the web addresses “https”, with the 's' standing for secure. If it hasn’t, don’t enter your details.
	· Change your online passwords as soon as possible and get into the habit of changing them regularly. Try to make your make them hard to guess and use numbers and upper and lower case letters. If they are too long hard to remember (which they probably should be), write them down and keep them in a safe secure place away from your computer for when you need them.

Spend a while giving your computer or lap the once over.

	· Are your Microsoft downloads up to date?
	· Is your antivirus still valid and working?
	· Is your firewall turned on?
	· Have you done a full virus and spy-ware scan of late?
	· Have you got any high risk programs on your PC like LimeWire?
	· Have any unexplained Icon suddenly appeared on your desk top?

Pass this information to your friends, email contacts and family or send them a link to this website. The more of your contacts that are aware of this issue the less chance there is of it affection yourselves.

You can never be 100% sure, but at least by following the some or all of the above advice, you should reduce your risk factor.