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Ways Technology Threatens Your Privacy (and How to Protect Yourself)

by Riva Richmond on May 14, 2009 at 02:14 PM



1) "Phishing" for your private information

Cybercriminals are working hard to gather financial-account details and passwords, Social Security Numbers and, frankly, anything useful for stealing your identity and defrauding you. Often, their strategy is simply to trick you into handing it over. They send deceptive e-mails or instant messages that appear to be from a person or organization you trust. These e-mails include some song and dance to get you to visit a Web site or call a phone number and provide the information. Don't do it!

To protect yourself, be skeptical of unsolicited messages and disclose sensitive information with great care – and warn your kids to do the same. Several software companies make phishing filters that red-light many dangerous sites. You can get one by downloading the latest version of Internet Explorer or Firefox , which have this capability built-in. Many security software companies, such as Symantec and McAfee, include phishing protection in their security suites and offer the filters alone as free downloads.

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