It’s nine o’clock… Do you know who is using your computer?
Source: Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Tens of thousands of consumers are unwitting accomplices of illegal spammers and at the mercy of identity thieves, warns the Federal Trade Commission. These consumers’ computers have been secretly hijacked by criminals who install spam-sending software and spyware on the computers when consumers open malicious e-mail attachments or visit a malicious Web site. After gaining access to consumers’ computers, the criminals can track consumers’ Internet surfing, steal personal information, and turn the computers into spam “zombies” that are part of a “botnet” made up of thousands of home computers through which spammers route spam.

In a new consumer alert, “Botnets and Hackers and Spam (Oh, My!)” available at www.OnGuardOnline.gov/botnet.html, the FTC urges consumers to secure their personal information and stop assisting spammers by:

• Using anti-virus and anti-spyware software and keeping it up-to-date.
• Setting their operating system software to download and install security patches automatically.
• Being cautious about opening any attachments or downloading files from e-mails they receive.
• Using a firewall to protect their computer from hacking attacks while it is connected to the Internet.
• Disconnecting from the Internet when they’re away from their computer.
• Downloading free software only from sites they know and trust.
• Checking their “sent items” file or “outgoing” mailbox for messages they did not intend to send.
• Taking action immediately if their computer is infected.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 14th, 2007 at 8:55 am and is filed under Internet, Privacy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.