Whatshot
Through my eyes
Through my eyes
Date: 2018-10-12
Hacking is back in the news. Am I imagining it or are we all being hacked.
Recent Facebook profile cloning made me shiver. I mean there are some idiots out there that will do anything to gain power over the billions of lives on the Internet, it's what they do for a living.
For hackers, the world, the cyber world, is their oyster. They can pay you a visit, harvest your most sensitive information, and disappear without a trace.
Even the most technophobic of us have some footprint on the internet. But it is the explosion in social networking that can give hackers an 'in-road'.
Even if you don't have a computer or go online, your information is still out there. You are in the phonebook, on the electoral role, or on an old school or university website.
Internet fraud rests on a pyramid like structure of stolen information: at the bottom is the man trawling the internet for credit card numbers. He then sells those numbers in bulk, say a million a time, for a few Rands each. The next man in the chain tests the card numbers by making small purchases, say a song from an online music store. If it works it can be sold up the chain for, say, R100. The next recipient will then use it to make a much bigger purchase.
Millions of internet addresses are attacked every day, mainly by automated means. Your machine may have been invaded by a hacker who is using it to attack other machines without your knowledge.
There will always be a technological battle going on, however. The spread of mobile phones that automatically log on to Wi-Fi hotspots is a gift to fraudsters, who can set up their own hotspots to capture information from a passing phone without the owner's knowledge.
Technology is being forced upon us and it's harder to do things without it. You have to assume that everything you do on the internet is leaking out. There should be no assumption of privacy. You should assume that when you are online you are engaging in a public conversation.
It is a scary world we are living in, keep your information private. Don't accept "Friend Requests" and be wary of everything you write on WhatsApp and even say on your phone. Big Brother is watching all of us and is ready to grab whatever he sees fit for the taking
Be safe.