The Threat of Online Security: How Safe is Our Data?

Online Threat

1. Spy ware
Spy ware is a program that runs in the background on a users computer without the user even knowing it is there. These types of threats generally collect data from the infected machine and through that machines internet connection, will transmit that collected data to a third party. Such threats can be installed from visited websites and in many cases is bundled with software and is installed without the end users knowledge during the software's install process.

2. Phishing Threats
This threat is an attempt to lure a user to a website that looks like legit but is not, then have the user voluntarily provide personal information. You may receive an email or link which appears to be from your banking institution, Pay pal, e Bay or some other company you may have personal data on file with and the link you are to click may look real however, when you click on the link you are directed to a thief's website which may look identical to the real thing. Needless to say, if you fill out the form and provide them with the personal data they ask for, surely you fall victim to a scam.

3. ISP Logging
Sadly, this is becoming a growing threat as yet more privacy and rights are lost. Many ISPs are now being forced to log users activities including web traffic, email, Usenet, chat and other protocols and maintain those logs for specific periods of time. Overcoming such logging is crucial to maintaining privacy and our members are given the tools and the knowledge needed to do just that.

4. Websites gathering personal data
There are many scripts available on the web today to incorporate within the code of websites to compile all kinds of information on the people who visit those sites. In most cases, without the visitor ever knowing the website is compiling that data! PC, browser and personal information can be obtained from websites running unscrupulous web scripts.

5. Hard Drive Data
Have you ever had an image or document or some other file on your PC that you did not want anyone else to know about? Many users think that when they delete a file from a computer that it is gone. That is simply not true. Such files can easily be retrieved to their original state with even the most basic of tools. Even some "eraser/scrubber" type programs leave enough trace to identify such files.