The continued growth and increased accessibility of the Internet has brought with it numerous advantages to nearly all facets of modern life. Individuals can now find a wealth of information on the widest array of topics simply by typing a few words into a well-tuned Search Engine such as Google or Yahoo. It has become easier for consumers to purchase goods from distant stores and has brought the markets of the city to the doorsteps of rural communities. The Internet has shrunk the world, bringing strangers from different parts of the country, continent and globe closer together in their abilities to communicate. No longer must people wait for a letter to be delivered by the postal services of the world, when e-mail transmissions occur nearly instantaneously. The list of opportunities and benefits provided by the Internet at times seems endless, but these benefits do not come without costs, risks and disadvantages. The growth of the Internet has also allowed for new forms of crime, new questions of privacy, and new issues of censorship and freedom of speech. While it may be easier to do Christmas shopping over the Internet, it is also easier for merchants to be less than honest over the Internet, and many opportunities avail for individuals interested in misusing information. As technology advances, so do the criminals, and one of the fastest growing crimes in North America today is that of identity theft. In a world where face-to-face interaction is becoming more and more unnecessary, it is becoming much easier to have your identity defaced, stolen and misused.

It was not many years ago that the Internet still had a certain novelty to its existence and use. Individuals who made ‘friends’ over the Internet were regarded with some degree of scepticism by the remainder of the populous, and it certainly seemed naïve to send out personal information to complete strangers via electronic transmissions. Quickly though, times have changed, and while many are still apprehensive about the Internet, growing numbers of Americans and world citizens alike have thrown down their guard in exchange for the convenience offered by the Internet. Despite this, many dangers do exist. On a very simple level, the Internet has provided us with a new form of sabotage and vandalism. The development and distribution of viruses can be transmitted within seconds to thousands and even millions of computers worldwide. While some viruses are simply a nuisance that require a bit of time and effort to repair, others can be massively destructive, causing billions of dollars in damage to hardware and losses in productivity and sales. In 2003, the Sobig-F virus caused over 29.7 billion dollars in global economic damages (Guadin, 2003). Thus, one of the biggest challenges posed by the existence of the Internet is protecting the security of those who use it at the very basic level of preventing viruses from infiltrating the hardware and software of Internet users worldwide (Gaudin, 2003).

The dangers of the Internet and the issues of Internet and information security can also be much more personal than the damage caused by viruses. Identity theft and the misuse of sensitive personal information is one of the fastest growing crimes related to the Internet and information security. When individuals make credit card transactions over the Internet or provide other forms of sensitive information, such as the information provided on a job application, they are taking a risk that someone else will intersect that information and use it for illegal purposes. The danger, however, is two fold. While sometimes the danger lies in individuals “spying” on the forms of other websites and intersecting information en route, other forms are much more sleuth and direct. One of the most common scams circulating the Internet currently is the use of “spoof” emails that are aimed at collecting sensitive information from customers of widely respected and trusted companies such as PayPal and Ebay (Bright, 2003). Members of these companies are sent emails that look incredibly like real emails, and the content of the emails ask the member to provide sensitive information, such as their credit card information, billing address, and social security information in order to secure or confirm their membership. While many consumers have grown wise to these scams and recognize that they should never provide such information through the Internet, millions of individuals still fall victim to these scams and risk the consequences of credit card fraud, or worse, identity theft (Bright, 2003).

Identity theft occurs when someone, other than yourself, uses sensitive personal information about you, such as your credit card information, Social Security Number, or banking information to present him or herself as you, and to illegally use your identity. In other words, Identity Theft is the modern day form of fraud. One of the biggest problems with Identity Theft is the difficulty victims have in clearing their names and avoiding criminal charges themselves. Often those who steal identities use the information to commit other illegal acts, which are then traced back to the original identity holder. It is on the onus of that individual to prove his or her innocence. The process can often take months or even years and most often identity theft victims never regain any of the funds stolen from them and usually must pay even more expenses out of pocket in order to clear their name. In addition, identity theft usually leads to poor credit ratings for individuals who’s identities have been stolen, thus making it difficult for them to secure loans, get new credit cards or even be hired for specific jobs (Federal Trade Commission, 2004).

Despite the efforts on behalf of the Government and law enforcement agencies to deal with Identity theft and other new dangers brought about by the widespread use and popularity of the Internet, cyber-crime continues to be one of the most difficult forms of crime to control. In the United States, it is now a federal offence to steal an identity, as declared by the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 (Federal Trade Commission, 2004). In the U.S., nearly 42% of all consumer complaints in the year 2001 were related to issues of Identity theft, and this number is not shrinking. It is also estimated that an identity is stolen once every 79 seconds (Identity Theft, 2004). The best defence against Identity Theft remains taking cautionary measures before it occurs. It is necessary for the public to be made aware of the dangers of Identity theft and the rules of using the Internet in a safe and protected manner. Individuals must be aware that they should never be asked to provide sensitive information over the Internet, and that when they are submitting their credit card information they should be certain they are doing so over a secure server with a reputable company or merchant (Identity Theft, 2004).

Tim Johnson Junior is a freelance writer, CRWA certified resume writer and career coach. Has written over 2000 articles and essays on the subject of Social Issues. Has worked for Essaymart’s custom writing department from 2003 to 2005. Currently, Tim is busy helping professionals and executives optimize their careers at a certified Resume Writing firm, ResumeAid.

To survive in today’s highly competitive business environment, which is rapidly transmuting into a cyber village, businesses have to participate in the virtual world by using Internet for not only emailing and chatting but also to tap the vast e-commerce market. However, on one hand, Internet offers limitless opportunities for the entrepreneurs. On the other hand, Internet security and risk management pose monumental challenges for the corporate world today. However, countermeasures can be and must be taken in order to address the issue. Before plunging into the sea of security issues that surround the use of Internet, let us first look into the commonly followed definition of the umbrella term Internet Security.

Defining Internet Security

Internet security as defined “is the practice of protecting and preserving private resources and information on the Internet” (Internet Security). Hence, Internet security is the fundamental to prevent breach of e-commerce clients’ trust and the resultant violation of privacy policies in order to avoid defamation of the companies’ hard earned corporate image. This leads us to the next section of our research assignment that discusses the scope of the issue under discussion.

Why Discuss Internet Security? Scope of the Problem

Information is exchanged via Internet use in the corporate world where people can communicate with each other and sell and buy products online using credit cards. Even confidential company data and many other secrets are shared via Internet. However, this paves way for security issues, which make the “circuitous route” of the information being exchanged prone to deception, unauthenticated interruption and other security risks. On the same account, Internet security has transformed into a major concern for all Internet users (Definitions of Internet Security on the web). Therefore, Internet security issues and risk management tips need to be discussed and highlighted for the benefit of the readers and the users alike.

Security-related Risks Associated with Internet Use and Management Strategies

Internet doubtless ameliorates corporate communication, “information sharing, market effectiveness and productivity” (Paliouras). Nonetheless, Internet use has often resulted in “security breaches with known or unknown undesirable consequences ranging from a crippled or hacked corporate network to a ruined reputation and costly litigation”. Consequently, content of the emails must be filtered to prevent the above mentioned organizational issues. (Paliouras).

Risk Management via Content Filtering

“Klez worm” including other viruses that can seriously damage the computer system, “junk mail”, shopping online using Internet and visiting obscene sites at the organizational cost augment security risks (Paliouras). These risks can be reduced by making sure that employees avoid using company Internet services for irrelevant tasks. However, emails are highly important for business communication and “content filtering” is the best solution to manage security risks. “Advanced text analysis is necessary to prevent users from sending sexually explicit text and racial epithets or sensitive information to unauthorized parties. Lexical analysis is one way to cut down leak of confidential information as most of these files include special words or phrases” (Paliouras). Moreover, “keyword searching and inspection” as well as “advanced image analysis” are some of the really effective weapons to reduce security risks associated with Internet use.

This is where the significance of information systems comes into play. With the aid of constructing appropriate systems and using adequate content filtering software, companies can block unnecessary and potentially harmful and insecure attachments from entering and infecting the computers.

A three-step approach inclusive of conceiving, constructing and consolidating been recommended by information systems companies in order to efficiently with security risks associated with the use of Internet (Internet security challenges). However, the extent to which Internet use is secured primarily depends upon the company’s “security awareness” (Katos). When electronically operating firms believe in cherishing their clientele’s trust and therefore make every attempt to secure their operations via security checks, secured systems and well-planned security policies, security risks tremendously plummet and the firm’s reputation improves. Also, with security awareness, firms tend to be better equipped with latest advancements in the field of information systems.

Conclusion

Hence from the above discussion it is evident that Internet security and risk management pose monumental challenges for the corporate world today. However, countermeasures can be and must be taken in order to address the issue. Those computer organizations that take help and make the most out of Information Systems are the ones that benefit the most in the long run. This is because Information systems offer a vast variety of security software, with the aid of which, organizations can reduce the risk of Internet use. Managing Internet security related risks is no long an out-of-this-word task if adequate knowledge and timely application of Information systems is made available. Therefore, to address Internet security issues, the basic knowledge of Information Systems Fundamentals is essential. Moreover, extensive research and progress is demanded in the field of information systems in order to create “new defense mechanisms”

Tim Johnson Junior is a freelance writer, CRWA certified resume writer and career coach. Has written over 2000 articles and essays on the subject of Social Issues. Has worked for Essaymart’s custom writing department from 2003 to 2005. Currently, Tim is busy helping professionals and executives optimize their careers at a certified Resume Writing firm, ResumeAid.

In my research around the net it amazes me how many different products online are out there that are complete junk. The thing that is scary to me is that people are buying them every day!

Make a million dollars at home just by pushing a button! You can grow a new head of hair in a few days with my magic product! The ultimate guide to getting laid! Lose 10 pounds in 7 days!

Give me a break.

The anonymity of the internet is attracting a whole new group of snake oil salesmen (and women) who are feeding on our weaknesses mainly vanity and greed. Who doesn’t want to earn a lot of money by doing nothing? Who would not be flattered if they were surrounded by members of the opposite sex who lusted after them? Who would not like to lose 10 pounds in a week with no dieting or exercise? Not many people in today’s society.

Don’t get me wrong there are many useful programs and products online that can help you to do many things including lose weight, make money, etc. However, there are no quick fixes. Keep in mind that if you are to truly succeed with any of those programs you will need to end up putting some work into it.

My advice to you is to do your research. If a product seems too good to be true it most likely is. Many of the internet marketers out there are interested in one thing and one thing only, the sale. After that they are done. Make sure that whatever you are looking at has some sort of guarantee and if the product turns out to not be what you were hoping RETURN IT! Help make the internet a better place by not letting the charlatans get away with scam products.

If you have questions on an item try putting the name of the product in Google and see if there are any reviews on it. Many times people will post their comments and reviews in different forums and blogs which could help you to make a decision on a product.

Kevin Anderson researches products that are sold on the web and gives his comments are reviews on them. He publishes his findings at http://www.spedinc.com and on his blog at http://www.clickbankcatalog.blogspot.com.

The ability to detect spyware is becoming more and more important in today’s world. Ditto for the use of spyware removal tools.

Did you know that recently a Trojan Horse program was developed and used for industrial espionage? The Trojan Horse was used in the illegal hacking into scores of computers in Israel, including computers belonging to large and leading companies. The companies involved did not know how important it was to have a spyware removal tool or tools to detect spyware. The perpetrators developed spyware programs that extracted computer files and entire directories from infected computers. This material was then sent to servers abroad. The spyware was sold to private investigators, which offered their industrial espionage services to various companies.

In this case, the perpertrators (a husband and wife team!) were eventually caught and deported. But by that time, the damage had already been done. Those corporations that had been victimized already had their sensitive corporate secrets floating around in cyberspace and who knows where else! If they had known how to detect spyware, they might be much better off.

In another case, a routine Internet activity report that was run on a large company’s computer users revealed that some computers were logging thousands of hits a day to the same IP address. The web site had nothing to do with the company, and the network administrator at first thought that employees were conducting their personal business on the internet or otherwise slacking off.

After rather intense investigation, and a routine check to detect spyware, it was revealed that spyware was tracking employees¡¯ computer usage habits and was sending the information back to a third party website automatically. This company used a combination of a spyware removal tool and restricting internet access to prevent this happening to them again.

Even in large corporate environments, spyware can cause tremendous damage - it can compromise data security Spyware and significantly slow down computer performance.

The lesson here is this: if spyware/malware can compromise even the most sophisticated business computer systems, then those of us who have small businesses and even more to lose can¡¯t afford to take our internet security lightly!

Joe Borges helps you to keep your computer files safe. To learn the essential steps to protecting yourself online and get a free trial spyware scan, visit:

Detect Spyware

Joe Borges is an Internet Marketer and Online Business Owner with experience in web development and implementation. He is also a professional SEO Consultant, helping internet businesses increase their web presence, website traffic and Search Engine Ranking. Get essential tips, tools and strategies that you can use right now to protect your most sensitive information by visiting:

http://www.alertcomputer.com

Last summer the Federal Government subpoenaed the search records of at least the two largest search engines, Google and Yahoo. Yahoo complied with the subpoena and handed over the records. But Google refused.

As a result of Google’s non-compliance, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has asked a Federal Judge in San Jose, California to force Google’s hand.

The way I figure, if I don’t do anything that warrants the attention of law enforcement, I won’t be a target of their investigation. But, I’m sure that if an overzealous investigator looked hard enough at some of the thousands of keywords that I have entered into search engines over the last several years, they might interpret that differently.

I’ve heard of way too many stories people getting caught up in government witch-hunts. And, I don’t want to be one of those people.

So what is the Average Joe or Jane like you and I to do to ensure that we don’t unintentionally become a target? How do we know what search terms might send up “red flags” to the U.S. Government?

The World Privacy Forum has several recommendations of how to protect yourself when using a search engine. The main tip that they give is to never search for terms that can easily be associated back to you. For instance, don’t do a keyword search on your name with your social security number. But that’s common sense. At least it should be.

I would add that certain keywords might send up some red flags. Doing searches on Al Queda, explosives, and popular tourists locations all in the same sitting probably wouldn’t be wise.

Another tip the World Privacy Forum gives is to consider using an anonymizing tool or proxy server. Every computer connected to the Internet has a virtual and unique “address”. When you search for something on the Internet, whatever it is that you are seaching for can easily be traced back to your computer’s address. Anonymizing tools and proxy servers serve as a buffer between your computer and the Internet. They help mask your keyword searches from being traced back to your computer’s address.

The World Privacy Forum did suggest a few specific anonymizing tools and proxy servers. But I disagree with their recommendations. Their recommendations were all freeware and free services.

I steer clear of both and rarely recommend anything that is “free”. You get what you pay for. And your privacy is worth the money. All too often freeware is riddled with spyware and adware. In the end, most freeware does more harm than good.

If you are going to use an anonymizing service, buck up and pay for it. anonymizer.com has a very reasonable service for only $29.99 a year.

I also strongly suggest an industrial strength computer wiper. Just because you delete a file with the use of your “delete” button on your keyboard or your trash bin on your desktop, doesn’t mean that it’s gone. In layman’s terms, it is just puts on your hard drive in a place where you can’t see it. But a savvy law enforcement agent or even a hacker knows exactly how and where to go on your computer to access it.

I use and recommend a product by Robin Hood Software called Evidence Eliminator. It’s the only product that can completely eliminate all the stuff on your computer that you no longer want on your computer. Although it’s not free, it is a lot cheaper than hiring a lawyer to help you explain to the government about your Internet search habits.

Come to www.delete4good.com for more information about Proxify and Evidence Eliminator.

J. Barbour is a consultant for Weinman-Skaggs Consulting in Miami, FL. http://www.delete4good.com

When it comes to online fraud, I take it personal because I was almost a victim. Looking back, I was very susceptible because I did not have the knowledge that I do now. It is not necessarily "knowledge", but more along the lines of "cautionary measures"; however, if I never took these, I would have been scammed again. It is not that I fall for anything, it is that scams are getting better and much harder to identify. This article is intended to prevent you from becoming scammed.

The story is very similar to many others who have gotten scammed. I had a car to sell, so posted on many classified ad sites (mostly all free) and put the asking price, with some room to negotiate. Within the next two days or so, I received an email from a guy named Prince Muhammad in United Arab Emirates who wanted to buy my car for his son. After sending a few pictures of the car, he emailed back with intense interest. He wanted to get it for his son’s birthday and was willing to pay $500 more than my asking price of $5,000. During those couple days of corresponding with Prince Muhammad, I received another four or five emails from others in outside countries very "interested" in buying the car. Each person had a different story, mostly "auto dealers" or "agents" who had clients interested in the car and willing to pay the asking price, sometimes a little more. In the end I decided to sell to Prince Muhammad because he was the first to contact me and it would be nice to help him get his son a birthday gift like this.

Prince Muhammad was currently working on an oil field and was unable to travel to the US to get the car, so he proposed something else. He had a client in the US who owed him $11,615, so just have that client send me a cashier’s check with the full amount and I would send the remainder via Western Union, after deducting the price of the car. Prince Muhammad even called me two times to set this up, although I could not really him very well over the phone.

After three days, I received a BankOne check sent from somewhere in New York for the amount of $11,615 endorsed to me. The check looked very real. Wow, I thought, this is really going to happen. So I deposited the check and waited for it to clear before I would send the money via Western Union. My bank usually clears a check in three days max. A day after depositing the check, Prince Muhammad wanted me to send the remaining money. I told him not until the check clears, which he reinforced to send the money as soon as it does.

After four days, I called my bank to see why the check had not cleared yet and they informed me that it was possibly fraudulent. So I contacted Muhammad to let him know about the check but he was nowhere to be found. I received the check back in the mail with a big fraudulent stamp on it and a $50 fee from my bank. Thankfully I did not have to pay the $50 fee, but even more thankfully, I did not have to pay back $6,115.
When reading this story, most people will probably be thinking, how could anyone fall for this? Well it is quite easy, especially if you had never heard of this scam before. This happened back in 2003, when people started to report that they lost thousands of dollars after selling cars and items overseas. I might have read a small blurb in a local paper before this happened, but never really saw any real media coverage on the issue. It was not until I did more extensive research by reading forum posts and listservs from others who experienced this. There is now a little more awareness of this scam; yet, it is still happening on a daily basis. To this day, I still receive emails from scam artists trying to buy my car.
In order to prevent being scammed yourself, you must be able to identify a scam on the spot. Things to watch out for:

1. Proper grammar, English, and sentence structure
2. Proper name stuctures (i.e., Pierce Edward vs Edward Pierce; Woodward Stuart vs Stuart Woodward)
3. Obvious copy and paste
4. Outside buyers that are clients, agents, car companies that have ties to the US
5. Emails from yahoo.com, excite.com, and other free services
6. The word cashier’s check
7. Willingness to send more than the car is worth for you to return the remainder. If you think about it, who would be so trusting?
8. NEVER send something until you have the money in your possession. ALWAYS wait for funds to clear.
9. Are these people really from where they say they are? In order to find this out, please continue reading for how to determine that.

Below are two real emails that I received within the past month:

Hello,
My name THOMAS BACON i`m interested in purchasing your advertised car and the price $500 is okay with me,And i will like you not to worry about the shipping, I contact a friend in the states so he said he can organize an agent in the Europe who would be on ground to pick up the car as soon as we seal this transaction and i will like you to know that my mode of payment is by cashier’s cheque drawn from a US bank . It is a very good car.I Iook forward to hear from you soon. Respond asap if this is ok by you.
Thanks
Thomas

Good day, I am Paul woodward,the sales/purchase manager for OASIS AUTOMOBILE CORPORATION.We are specialised in the sales/purhcase of vehicles.A client of ours came accross your vehicle & informed us of his interest in your vehicle we will like to know if it is still available.Please contact us,the price of the vehicle&send the pictures of the vehicle along with the reply to indicate your willingness.
Paul Woodward

Phishing Scams
The latest scam threat is something known as Phishing. Phishing is a real problem because the emails appear authentic to those who receive them. Phishing emails are usually from bank companies, eBay, Paypal, and other institutions that have personal information. A phishing email is not very obvious because they will be addressed to your full name and the email will look like emails you have received from these companies. Although many say it is hard to spot a phishing email, it really isn’t if you know how to do a few things. Below are some strategies to prevent yourself from being scammed.

NEVER Click on a link or log in to something through your email
A good example would be an email from eBay asking you to update your account. The email will have your full name and have the logos, etc.. It will look legit. Think about it this way: How long have you been a member of eBay or your bank, and how often have you received emails from them? I have never received an email from my bank and only one from eBay after using it. These companies know of these scams and will purposely avoid sending emails to you like this. What is the real need to update anything? Most sites do that for you automatically. If you have not used eBay in 2 years, what are you going to update?

NEVER Click a link without knowing where it really goes This is a little example to show you how easy it is to scam someone who never looks at this. When you put your mouse over a link, the path will be displayed on the bottom left corner of your browser (above Start button). This is for internet explorer/Outlook, etc.., but other browsers might show it elsewhere. I want you to try it. Put your mouse over this link (don’t click it): EBAY. Now you should see http://www.ebay.com show up on the bottom left of your browser.
I am now going to do the same thing again, and this time I am going to show you what a phishing link will look like: EBAY. When you highlight over that, you should have seen http://66.231.590/xxx/www.ebay.com/. I just made this link up so it will not go to the login page, but a real phishing link would. When you log in to a phishing link, you have just sent your personal information to the scam artist. They can then do what they want with it, like draining your bank account.

WHERE is the person sending you an email really from? You can find out where someone is from by looking up their IP address. When you get an email, you can view something known as headers and footers. I use Outlook Express, but other programs will have this information. I am going to just explain this for Outlook users, but the principles are the same.
In Outlook, right click on a received email and select Properties at the Bottom. Next click Details.

You should have a Return Path, with an email address in it, and below a Received from with an IP address [numbers]. You may have a couple Return paths because of exchange servers, but you can get the gist of where they are from by checking both. To check go to WHOIS and copy and paste the IP into the box and hit enter. The server should come up. Now, this is not the exact address, but you can get the country pretty accurately. When it comes to free email systems like yahoo and hotmail, tracing is virtually impossible, but you can still get some sort of information. That is why scammers like them so much.

In the end, I hope you learned something and can become a more cautious web user. Please send this article to all you know so that we can stop supporting terrorists and scam artists.

Chris Theberge is the founder of the Nutrition and Food Web Archive, NutriWeb Designs, and Dietitian Designs. Visit http://www.nafwa.org for free nutrition and food-related resources.

If you were born before 1960, you may remember a strange phenomenon that was once used by some people to shortcut the process of catching fish. Instead of using a fishing pole and waiting patiently for a fish to swim by and take the bait, they would take a boat out into the lake with several sticks of dynamite in hand.

A quick setup and a toss of one of those sticks of dynamite into the lake resulted in an underwater explosion - either killing or stunning all of the fish in the general area of the explosion. Once dead or stunned, the fish floated to the surface and the so-called fishermen could scoop them up with a net and fill their boat with the catch of the day.

Now outlawed and much more difficult to buy the tackle required, fishing with dynamite is pretty much a thing of the past.

In the past few years a new type of activity has been commonly referred to as Phishing. This does not involve water but involves using bait to catch unsuspecting victims. Once caught, victims give the Phisher their personal information.

This type of scam started online with the phony bank emails asking people to update their information. It then spread to the phony email pretending to be from from that big auction site or the payment processing company they now own. Next was the fraudulent email from the African business people asking for help to transfer millions of dollars from their deceased relatives accounts. Then there was the one in which a poor rich individual was dying and they wanted an honest person to take their millions and distribute it to charities. And lastly in this series has been the business partner needed scam where the foreign company needs an “agent” to help them in this country.

Most of these rip-off scams were geared to trying to get your personal sensitive information to be used to empty your bank account or to commit identity fraud.

Now there is a brand new assault that is targeted at the unemployed and what a good target they can be. Why are the unemployed a good target? Most people who experience unemployment suffer from elevated anxiety about their future. This anxiety increases over time, the longer the period of unemployment continues.

Today with the miracle of the internet, we can search for employment online via massive job sites. You know the big ones, you have seen the commercials and possibly you have even uploaded your resume to them.

The scammers have seen the commercials too. Now they have begun to use these sites disguised as employers offering really good paying, interesting sounding jobs. One of the recent ones was related to a talent agency. Here is how the process goes.

You get an email from the prospective employer telling you that they have seen your resume on the job site and they would like you to fill out their online application and send a resume. In some cases, this is the only step, if they ask for things like your SSN in the application. They might really have it worked out and take it further. They may only ask for basic information and have you upload your resume. Then they build on the game - they make you wait. About a week or so later you get the congratulatory email saying that you have been selected from applicants, and to go online and fill out the agreement, after which you have to fill out the insurance forms, or the W2 form so you can begin your training.

Alarms are going off and red lights flashing!

As a person who has been unemployed for three or more months, wouldn’t you love an offer making $75-100 thousand dollars a year?

I guarantee that some people are giving all of their information. In investigating one of these scams, I found that one online scammer had built over 50 different web sites under 50 different company names. Each time they got the boot from the online job site, they just started a new bogus company.

In fact some sources for my research said that some of the information stolen was not used for identity theft, but sold to other scammers and spammers for their use.

So now, everyone is officially a target, if you have money, no money, if you are an adult or a child, if you are living and breathing and even dead, your personal information can and may be stolen. If or when it is will you have been the one who gave the information away in desperation of getting good employment? My guess is if you are reading this article, you won’t.

Remember these points:

1. When it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
2. A good paying job usually requires a face to face interview.
3. Even a criminal can buy a secure web site.
4. Online job sites do not screen employers.

Use caution online, it’s a high speed jungle out there and now, they’re Phishing with dynamite!

Jeff Glaze is the Editor of http://www.AtlantaEvent.com, founder of http://www.privacy-first.com e-mail certification program and the author of several e-books. His company, Mostcool Media Inc.( Mostcoolmedia.com ), specializes in marketing planning, coaching, business networking training, web and media development. His e-book "The Six Xtremes Of Power Business Networking" is available here: http://www.atlantaevent.com/ebook.htm Jeff Glaze is available to speak to your group and can be contacted at 678.508.5975

Copyright © 2006 by MostCool Media Inc.

Nyxem has been programmed to delete Power Point, Word, Excel and Adobe PDF files starting on the 3rd of February and the 3rd of every month thereafter, Besides destroying those types of files, the worm also attempts to disable anti-virus software so that it stops updating and it can also disable the mouse and keyboard of infected PCs. It has also been reported that some Internet users have already lost important files after becoming infected by the Nyxem worm mainly because the clock time on their computer was wrong.

Many antivirus manufacturers have already released patches for Nyxem, but it is estimated that thousands of computers are still infected. Most of these infected PCs are believed to be located in India, Turkey and Peru but many other computer systems worldwide could be hit soon as the Nyxem virus will mail copies of itself to contacts in a user’s address book.

To prevent getting infected by the Nyxem worm and the loss of critical data files you should not open attachments or click on Web links within these e-mails, especially if these e-mails have a porn-related subject line. You should also backup any important files that you want to preserve. It is also recommended to scan your computer for viruses.

About the Author: Edward is the owner of http://www.thespywareterminator.com where you can download the highest rated spyware remover for 2005. This superior software removes many unwanted Internet parasites such as viruses, trojans, popups, adware and spyware. It has been downloaded over 35 million times by people in over 100 countries. It really works!

Years have passed since the age of innocence in the computing world. Nowadays, there exists an increasing variety of malicious software programs as well as e-mail messages carrying them. Most of these programs can either be classified as viruses, worms, spyware and trojans. Amazingly, one of the victims of such programs was Ed Gibson, Head of Security for Microsoft UK, whose PC was infected by a dialer and started transmitting such programs to other unsuspecting victims.

Before we start, however, here are some quick definitions:

Worms, Viruses: Malicious executable code that can copy itself from one PC to another. Most of them don’t perform any other operations apart from simply copying themselves. They can, however, multiply like that very quickly and clog a system. The famous Internet Worm actually brought the whole Internet on it’s knees, back in 1988.

Trojans: Seemingly harmless programs but not really. They can be disguised as utilities, or as a system process but actually contain executable code intended for other tasks. A trojan may contain a virus, or a backdoor through which an intruder can have complete access to your PC.

Spyware, adware: Programs that spy on your PC and record and transmit data such as the sites you usually go to, the fields in on-line forms you use (such as your e-mail accounts, your credit card numbers and generally everything you enter in a web form). They are usually VERY poorly written programs and as such, will often slow down your PC or corrupt your software. (Yes, if they were really good written, they would actually go by unnoticed. Lucky for us, most talented programmers have jobs writing real software rather than parasites…)

Dialers: Programs that use your modem to dial numbers without you being aware of them. With the use of broadband connections, they tend to become a thing of the past. And we’ll not deal with them in this article.

It is worth mentioning that in recent years, a significant increase in the number of adware and spyware programs has been noticed, with a subsequent reduction in the number of new viruses being created. This can be explained as follows: While viruses can be a serious threat and can greatly and irreversibly harm your system, adware and spyware programs can actually gather very important personal information such as your credit card number and deliver that information to whoever was responsible for the attack, which most of the times is the creator of the program. An effective system security tool should not just locate these malicious files on your PC but should also be able to permanently erase them.

Most anti-virus programs can successfuly locate, identify and remove viruses but things are not as easy when it comes to spyware and adware. There is no product in the market that can eliminate 100% of spyware. It is therefore recommended that you install and periodically run at least two anti-spyware programs. It would be better if at least one of your chosen anti-spyware programs offers some kind of real-time protection. This means that a component of the anti-spyware programs stays resident on your computer memory and monitors traffic between your PC and the Internet. If a web page tries to send malicious code to you, or if an executable file tries to install that code, the anti-spyware resident component will detect it and block it. You can then, periodically run another anti-spyware program to scan your disk, in case something was missed by the first program (as we’ve said, no program currently detects and removes 100% of spyware).

Finally, it is crucial to frequently update your anti-spyware program or programs. New spyware programs are created all the time and it might be often that you find your PC infected with the latest spyware that your anti-spyware program failed to detect before you updated it. So don’t forget to update your anti-spyware about once a month to be as safe as possible!

You can find out more about spyware and anti-spyware on the Anti-Spyware Review page of InfoCastPortal.COM

Because nobody wants to compromise the integrity of their network by having some hacker "borrow" your bandwidth or gain access and start snooping around you need to lock down your network. Fortunately, encryption is built into wireless technology; it’s simply a matter knowing how to turn it on.

Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) or WiFi Protected Access (WPA) The good news is that wireless technology does have pre-built security but the bad news is there’s a flaw in that security. The problem lies in the fact that it’s been built upon two completely incompatible standards with the result being that it’s a pain in the "you know what" to set up a whole network to use encryption.

Like most new technologies it starts out using a certain standard and then as the technology evolves better ways are developed that make the original technology obsolete. Flaws are also exposed in the original standard that make it less desirable. Problems then develop as business and individuals scramble to transition from the old to the new because during the transition there’s always equipment and devices that use the old technology and the differences usually cause compatibility issues.

WEP was the original standard for encryption over 802.11 wireless networks but in 2001 a research paper was published entitled: "Weaknesses in the Key Scheduling Algorithm of RC4" which demonstrated critical flaws in the security of WEP that made it rather simple for someone with reasonable know how to break it and have access to someone’s network.

In a nutshell, WEP made it too easy to discover its’ secret key and once you have the key; you can hack in and stay for as long as you want. Owners quickly recognized that it was virtually useless to use WEP on their networks but by the time the industry discovered the security flaw the WEP method was built into almost every piece of wireless equipment made.

Clearly, the WEP standard had to be replaced and in 2003 WPA was introduced and fortunately it fixed most of its predecessor’s flaws. WPA is much more secure than WEP. Unfortunately, WPA took a long time to reach the market and WPA devices were rather expensive when first released. As a result, WEP was and still is the default in a high percentage of the software being used because it’s supported by more devices. Now you can see why we find ourselves in the confused situation we are today.

WPA is the Here and Now

If you plan on to enable encryption, always use WPA. Any devices purchased after 2003 should be WPA compatible because the upgrade was made a mandatory part of the standard.

Without a doubt WEP is better than nothing because it will; at least, deter the casual intruder, who won’t try anything more than double-clicking to gain access to your network. In addition, WEP can also make you less of a target for wardrivers because there’s so many completely open networks that are even easier targets than those using WEP that they simply access them. However, it’s silly to use WEP nowadays (post 2003) when WPA is so easily available.

Encryption - Turning It On

Actually turning on encryption in Windows is fairly easy. The problem isn’t complexity it’s time or aggravation because it does involve a fair amount of clicking which is probably why so few people bother.

Step one is to turn on encryption for your wireless router or access point. The exact method will vary between devices but you can usually do it by visiting the router or access point’s configuration page in your web browser, find the encryption settings and then choosing WPA. If you have any trouble, refer to your manual.

Once you’ve done that, you’ll need to change the encryption settings on your computers. Open the "View Available Wireless Networks" screen by right-clicking on your wireless connection (bottom right of your screen) and selecting it from the menu that appears. Next, click "Change advanced settings" go to the Wireless Networks section and click your network’s name and then click Properties.

Next, where it says "Network authentication" select WPA and click OK on everything you’ve opened. Really not that bad but then again, that’s not the fun part. The fun comes when you get to do this for "every computer on your network". Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but grab a latte, put your feet up and start clicking.

Easier for New Networks

As you can see, the process is your basic "pain in buns" for existing networks but fortunately it’s much easier for networks that have not been set up. You still need to turn on encryption at the wireless router or access point but once you’ve done that you can set up encryption using the Wireless Network Setup Wizard.

You’ll have to ask Mr. Gates about this one but for some reason Windows still turns on WEP by default when you set up your wireless network. What this means is that each time you go through the wizard, you’ll need to remember to check the box on the third screen that says "Use WPA encryption instead of WEP". A pain, but it’s still easier than changing the settings manually down the road.

This article may be reproduced only in its entirety.

Kevin Erickson is an entrepreneur and writer. For more articles he’s written visit: Wireless Internet Internet Telephone Trade Show Booth