Online Threat Alerts (OTA) - Alerting you to scams and frauds.
How Your Computer Can Be Hacked

Here is a list of a few simple ways your computer can be hacked. With so many persons going online to do banking, shopping, social interacting and a lot of other things, it is important that we know how to protect ourselves on the internet against cybercriminals like hackers and scammers.

A Few Simple Ways Your Computer Can Be Hacked:

  • clicking on a link in a Facebook post, a Tweet (Twitter), an email message, or elsewhere, that takes you to a malicious website
  • downloading pirated or cracked software online embed with malwares like spyware, Trojan horse or Key logger
  • using weak or easily guessed passwords
  • opening a malicious email attachment that contains a virus, Trojan horse or other malwares
  • downloading bogus antivirus software
  • downloading fake software updates
  • allowing an unknown person to access your computer remotely via a remote desktop software
  • not updating your operating system and web browsers
  • browsing the internet without antivirus software installed
  • browsing the internet without a firewall software
  • connecting your computer to an unsecured Wi-Fi connection at places like a coffee shop, hotel or other Wi-Fi hotspots
  • not protecting your Wi-Fi (wireless) connection with a password
  • allowing the "Auto Run" or AutoPlay feature in Windows, which opens a default program (could be a virus), when a flash/thumb drive is inserted into one of your USB ports
  • allow a stranger to use your computer without monitoring him/her
  • installing a malicious Facebook application
  • entering your user names and passwords on a fake or phishing website
  • giving your user name and password to someone who request it via email or telephone
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