CRIME PREVENTION NEWS BRIEF
By Edward T. O’Leary, Chief of Police
If you listen to the news, you have probably heard about hackers and viruses that attack computer systems. Luckily, most of us have never had our computer attacked by anyone. Although most reported incidents happen to large businesses or government agencies, there is a great deal of concern that home computers and small business computer systems could. Not only could you lose valuable personal information, items stored on your hard drive; your computer could even be used to attack other computers, including those that protect our national security.
With the holiday season approaching, many people are in the process of purchasing new computers or enhancing the performance of our current machine. Many of us are in the process of switching from a dial-up modem to a digital service line (DSL). This means we are constantly linked to the internet and that there are security implications we all have to be aware of.
On Thursday, I attended a seminal on cybercrime sponsored by the Attorney General, Thomas Reilly and featured Commissioner Orson Swindle of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The main topic of the program was to make the public aware of the potential dangers and more importantly, what the home computer user or small business operator could do to reduce their risk of having their system compromised. Of course, when I told my family about the program, they all laughed and wondered why I did not send someone who knew more about computers than an on/off button.
There are several critical events that can take place if someone does gain access to your computer. Many viruses can cause the hard drive to crash and files and operating systems can evaporate. Zombies can also be put in place and your machine can be the source of attacking other computers. Private and confidential information could be stolen or misused.
John Grossman, an attorney with Attorney General’s staff related a case where a person’s personal data was placed on an “adult web site” requesting e-mail and calls. In the space of six hours, he received over 100 e-mails and several dozen calls. The source was tracked back to a person in the next town. When police did a search of his system, they found a hidden file planted in his system and the train died.
From a criminal investigation issue, both identify theft and credit theft are conducted when other can access personal data. Some offenders buy items on line (through your computer and credit) and the items are delivered to a commercial “mail box” store. Allison Burroughs of the U.S. Attorney’s office related several major fraud cases where “former” employees were able to tap into the business computer and commit serious offenses. In one case a travel agency had all their pre-book flights cancelled during the two weeks prior to Christmas.
Although the focus of the symposium was to generate long-term solutions to these security issues, there were five concrete suggestions that were made that could be used by all of us to reduce our risk.
1. Protect yourself from viruses by installing anti-virus software and updating it regularly.
2. Make sure that your passwords have both letters and numbers, and are at least eight characters long.
3. Prevent unauthorized access to your computer through firewall software or hardware, especially if you are a high-speed user.
4. Don’t open a file attached to an e-mail unless you are expecting it or know what it contains. If you send an attachment, type a message explaining what it is.
5. Report any unauthorized access to your computer through firewall software or hardware, especially if you are a high-speed user.
For those of you that want additional information here are some web sites information that can help:
The Federal Trade Commission has been a driving force during the past year in educating others about security risks home computer users face. They have introduced a character, “Dewie the Turtle” to remind consumers to stay safe on line and to develop a “culture of security”. Commissioner Swindle hopes that Dewey and his message become as familiar to the public as “Smokey the Bear” or “McGruff the Crimedog”. He related the concern of internet safety by asking all of us what we would de before crossing the street. We all learned at an early age to look both ways.
Using the information super highways can be just as perilous when we surf on line and don’t take precautions to protect ourselves and our families.