Have you ever thought about how cyber-criminals are able to steal your identity? They do this by following the digital tracks you leave behind whenever you log onto the internet. This new brand of crook sits waiting for someone to let their guard down, so he can pounce.
When you go to your favorite coffee shop to have your morning coffee…or even if it’s to unwind after work… and you decide to take out your laptop to send out some e-mails, or do some shopping, you could be putting your identity at risk. Whenever you use a public hotspot, the WiFi connection may be free, but the penalty could be very costly. Think about it…how many other people are also using this connection? You see all of the open laptops, but some of those people may be hard at work hunting for information.
The internet connections in public places leave you vulnerable to identity theft. Any information you send through this connection is unencrypted, which means anyone who can find your IP address can intercept your data stream and see everything that you are doing.
The internet is such a vital part of all of our lives and we are at the point where we don’t give a second thought to entering our personal information. Every day, we sign up for online newsletters and interesting websites. We shop on line because that way, we’re not limited to store hours. Each site asks for a user name, an e-mail address and a password. If we enter this information over an unencrypted connection, that cyber-criminal posing as a fellow businessman will be able to use it.
With so many websites, newsletters, and social networking sites to sign up for, at one time or another, we have all been guilty of using the same user name (usually an e-mail address) and password for everything. After all, how can we be expected to remember 20 different passwords? If a cyber-criminal has intercepted your data stream while you were sending e-mails, he now has your e-mail address and a password. Once he has this information, he can go through all of your e-mails and collect information from them. He also now has a password that he can potentially use to open other areas of your on line life. Bank accounts, on line shopping accounts…your life will be laid out before him.
If you use the same password for your social networking site, this thief can get into your account, which will tell him your name, location and names of your family and friends. He is now armed with your name and city, so now it’s not only your identity that is in jeopardy, but also your home and family.
The only way to deter a cyber-crook, other than never again using a public hotspot, is by using a proxy server. With a proxy server, not only can you surf the net anonymously by hiding your IP address, but all of the information you enter is encrypted. Even if someone could intercept your data stream, he won’t be able to decipher any of the information, so it would be useless to him.
2 comments:
This was a very interesting article! But I wonder if you can provide me with more specifics on exactly how someone in a coffee shop can get my IP address?
Also check out my Internet privacy blog: http://www.netroamers.com/
Hi Doug,
When you are on WiFi, the signals can be intercepted by anyone else within range.
By using a packet sniffer, all the information that is not encrypted can be captured by someone nearby.
A proxy that encrypts the data stream makes the information captured unreadable.
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