Aug 5, 2008 7:59 pm US/Eastern
Ways To Protect Yourself From Computer Hackers
Jim Smith, WBZ Reporter
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
Computer hackers are everywhere. They can even reach you in your home.
If you don't take action now to protect your home computer, you could be a victim.
"There's a lot of stuff going on... on the wild, wild Web."
Meet Robert Siciliano -- one of Boston's top computer security experts. He says protecting your home pc is absolutely crucial. If you don't, you can lose your identity and everything you own.
Let's start with the modem. If it's wireless, that's a red flag. "One of the weakest links in all computer security is your wireless connection to the Internet. If you surf over the Internet with a wireless router in your home or office, please make sure that it is properly encrypted so that nobody can simply just log onto your Internet connection or even tap into your computer."
And don't forget to have a firewall on your computer and use a spyware removal program every couple of weeks. "Spyware monitors the Web sites you visit, the user names and passwords you use to log in. Spyware is designed to spy on you and it is able to log every single thing you do on a computer."
And let's say you go on a site like eBay and pay for something with a credit card -- is that site really secure? The answer can be found in the address bar at the top of your computer. "Where it says "http" there should be an 's' at the end of that meaning it is a secured page. You should look at the top of your of the screen."
As far as using your debit card at stores, Sicliano says there's no way you can be totally protected nowadays. His best advice is to check your statement closely every month.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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