Privacy, Security & Virus Information

Steer Clear Of The News Or You May Be In It

Hackers are on the constant lookout to find ways to catch the average computer owner off guard and with their defences down. One of the more recent methods that have been unearthed by security experts is to fabricate "sensational" breaking news stories, using Google Trends and Twitter. Web surfers are attracted to these stories and are invited to click on a link for fuller details, and the link ends up being an entry to a bogus webpage where malware lies in wait for the unsuspecting and the gullible.

Google especially are vulnerable to hackers who spread these fictional news stories as highly trained SEO exports can rapidly promote a dodgy web page carrying a load of viruses under the pretence of news.

Concerned by the this latest trend Google have taken a lot of time to explain to the hundreds of millions who use their search engine services to be especially careful when clicking on unknown and unidentifiable links even when it comes down to a news story that appears to be just breaking and is of interest to them. Internet security experts advised surfers to reduce the risk of being affected by viruses by only reading news from trusted sources.

Security analysts are convinced that by visiting bogus web sites internet users may be innocent victims of a wide ranging and nefarious scheme set up by hackers that has created a relay network that will be used to spearhead a future onslaught of spam attacks.

Without the computer owners' knowledge, code may well have been implanted on their computer that connects to IP addresses in North America and Eastern Europe. Fears are the code has been set up to gather addresses of Web sites visited by affected users as well as the passwords used to access them as well as to relay spam across the Internet at some yet to be determined future date.

Failing to take these threats seriously is not an option that the majority of computer owners can afford to take these days. With the home computer becoming increasingly central in the management of an average UK Family's financial affairs and with the hard disc containing such sensitive personal information, and especially credit card numbers, anyone can be at risk from hacker attack and from an increasing variety of directions.

That's why virus protection is a must and at the highest level. Anything else is an open invitation to be in the wrong item of news.

 

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