Along with the improvement in the technology, so many things came up to light. The world got a new side to look at. Things became easier, so many tools got stuck into one small device that’s light in weight and small in size. Difficult things were made simple and long distance became behind one screen. With all of these things there also came some negativity. Wondering what?
Technology improved human mind working power not only in the good things but also a dark side started forming.We all use our PC now to not only get browse internet or play games, but now it’s possible to do online bank transactions, manage credit card accounts, buy things by doing online payments and also we send private details using mail. With all of this, there came up hackers who started earning too easily by hacking accounts of others and stealing their account details and accessing it. Which will end up to be a disaster to the actual owner who later turns out to be the victim.
These types of hackers are called as 'Identity thieves', who hack account details, identities and of others using the hardware like computer HDD or memory cards. By doing this, these identity thieves can get access to the bank accounts and get the money from it. These hackers use various types of techniques to get access to your computers. We should always be safe from these types of attacks that can happen to our PC. Before we move ahead let first see who the identity thieves are and who are the victims of them.
Who Are The Identity Thieves?
HDD Encryption
Browser Changes
We all should know that there are some particular browser which will save the password and details of some accounts, so that we can easily login the next time. But by doing so, our personal account can get into trouble. So it is always better to disable auto password saving in the browsers for the purpose of security. And also we should always see if the browser saves cache for the accounts you open or any other important sites you visited. So it’s always better to use the browser in incognito mode so that it will not save any cache for the visited sites.
Network Protection
In case you are using a shared network connection, then you should be more aware of all the possible security that you can provide with for your PC. As it’s easy to steel data from a PC when in shared network connection.
If the PC is not encrypted strongly. The firewall defending strength should be increased and at the same time the antivirus programs should work accurately to protect from any kind of data loss that can happen in a shared data network.
Spyware Blocking Apps
Spyware programs are used to collect information about the users. Well in that case most of the time spyware can contain malware but if it doesn’t have then spyware are not dangerous. But we never know if its malware free or its malware affected. So we should have an antivirus that can block the spyware and will not allow spyware to get information from your PC. Protect your PC with a best antivirus software.
Technology improved human mind working power not only in the good things but also a dark side started forming.We all use our PC now to not only get browse internet or play games, but now it’s possible to do online bank transactions, manage credit card accounts, buy things by doing online payments and also we send private details using mail. With all of this, there came up hackers who started earning too easily by hacking accounts of others and stealing their account details and accessing it. Which will end up to be a disaster to the actual owner who later turns out to be the victim.
These types of hackers are called as 'Identity thieves', who hack account details, identities and of others using the hardware like computer HDD or memory cards. By doing this, these identity thieves can get access to the bank accounts and get the money from it. These hackers use various types of techniques to get access to your computers. We should always be safe from these types of attacks that can happen to our PC. Before we move ahead let first see who the identity thieves are and who are the victims of them.
Who Are The Identity Thieves?
Identity thieves are those who use others identity and do all the possible fraudulent activities. The fraud activities includes opening credit card accounts using the identity of others, getting a new lease to buy expensive car, would use the credit card to go shopping and buy whatever they want. These are a few examples on what an identity thief can actually do using the stolen identity of someone. There are 3 categories of identity thieves.
- Unauthorized or attempted use of an existing account.
- Unauthorized or attempted use of personal information to open up a new account.
- Misusing the information for a fraudulent purpose.
These types of thieves would do anything from hacking your emails or even would break into the online banking accounts and get all the important personal information that are confidential. So as the attempts of the hackers are increasing every day, we should find ways to stay safe and secure our personal and confidential information. Along with this you should also know what is at risk with the identity thief?
We can’t ignore a fact thinking the hacker would only break into your email accounts and hack details. No, they can even break into your computer systems and hold all your data as a hostage and wait for ransoms from you. So it is very important to seriously think about this factor and protect your data from thieves.
Who Are The Victims Of Identity Thieves?
As we see, it’s not only those who are always on technology or use the technology for everything become victims, but also those who don’t frequently use too get in trouble. Along with that, we also noticed how people who use unique or difficult passwords for different accounts are also fall into the trap by getting hacked. When we use extra precautions online but don’t follow basic security protocols can be in trouble.
How Identity Thieves Commit Fraudulent Acts?
Hackers normally use plenty of methods and ways to grab the personal information of others and use it for their own advantage to commit fraud. Let’s see a few of them.
- The hackers would obtain the personal information of a particular person online and then they will use those info and open credit card accounts using the name, banking login, email and password.
- They can even clone and create duplicate credit cards and use them to purchase goods online.
- There are powerful malware computer programs which the hackers would use to record the keyboard strokes and all the sites that you visit on the internet. Later they would use the malware to unlock your password and use your online accounts.
- They would also obtain your social security number, they can impersonate you to apply for and get insurance, even apply for a rental property and then you will have to pay for them.
- Some thieves would use your debit card details and shop online. As the debit cards are not backed like the credit card companies for fraudulent charges.
- The hackers can also use a ransomware virus which would encrypt your computer files and then they will ask you to pay ransom if you want them to decrypt the files.
- Another simple method the hackers use is the public WiFi networks. They will easily connect to your phone when you are connected to an unsecured network. Even if the home WiFi doesn’t have a proper security, then hacker would gain access through the connected device.
These are a few ways the thieves would try to commit fraud acts through, so we have to always be secured and safeguard our data from the hackers. There are a few methods that can be done to protect ourselves from identity thieves, let’s take a look at them.
Android How to Secure PC From Thieves
HDD Encryption
One of the easiest and the safest thing that everyone can do to safeguard and protect your personal information from your PC is by using a password to protect it. We can encrypt the hard drive and all the files and folders in a PC by password protection so that no one else other than the one who knows the password can open up. So this password protection will give a small relief that your personal data is saved even in case of missed PC or someone else trying to use it without your awareness.
Browser Changes
We all should know that there are some particular browser which will save the password and details of some accounts, so that we can easily login the next time. But by doing so, our personal account can get into trouble. So it is always better to disable auto password saving in the browsers for the purpose of security. And also we should always see if the browser saves cache for the accounts you open or any other important sites you visited. So it’s always better to use the browser in incognito mode so that it will not save any cache for the visited sites.
Antivirus Software
We all should definitely have antivirus programs installed in our PC. And it’s better to run the antivirus program live whenever you use the PC. So that this will make the antivirus program scan for spam links or address and malware that will be cause hacking or any other types of insecurity to the PC. Make sure to check and set the antivirus program correctly so that it scan all the links, sites, browsers and apps.
We all should definitely have antivirus programs installed in our PC. And it’s better to run the antivirus program live whenever you use the PC. So that this will make the antivirus program scan for spam links or address and malware that will be cause hacking or any other types of insecurity to the PC. Make sure to check and set the antivirus program correctly so that it scan all the links, sites, browsers and apps.
Network Protection
In case you are using a shared network connection, then you should be more aware of all the possible security that you can provide with for your PC. As it’s easy to steel data from a PC when in shared network connection.
If the PC is not encrypted strongly. The firewall defending strength should be increased and at the same time the antivirus programs should work accurately to protect from any kind of data loss that can happen in a shared data network.
Spyware Blocking Apps
Spyware programs are used to collect information about the users. Well in that case most of the time spyware can contain malware but if it doesn’t have then spyware are not dangerous. But we never know if its malware free or its malware affected. So we should have an antivirus that can block the spyware and will not allow spyware to get information from your PC. Protect your PC with a best antivirus software.
Don't Open Suspicious Email
We see so many emails fill the junk folders. Those emails can be one threat to the PC if opened. There are many emails that are created with attachments with virus and Trojan horses that can spread if opened. Sometimes these emails can come to the inbox directly without moving to the junk folders. So we should always be aware of opening unknown or suspicious emails that we receive.
Always Install Updates
Updates are created for various reasons. With every new updates there can be a bug fixing agents or patches that help solve problems that can be found in the PC. so make sure not to close updates that we get very often.
We see so many emails fill the junk folders. Those emails can be one threat to the PC if opened. There are many emails that are created with attachments with virus and Trojan horses that can spread if opened. Sometimes these emails can come to the inbox directly without moving to the junk folders. So we should always be aware of opening unknown or suspicious emails that we receive.
Always Install Updates
Updates are created for various reasons. With every new updates there can be a bug fixing agents or patches that help solve problems that can be found in the PC. so make sure not to close updates that we get very often.
So that’s it. We have come across some important things that we should be aware of to protect our PC from Identity thieves. So never ignore any of the above given facts which are very effective and easy to stay updated. Following them can secure all your important and private data from being stolen.