Some (Hacker) Out There Loves You!

If you’re ever feeling down and worthless, take comfort: Somebody out there loves you. Or at least your money. I’m worth $695!

I recently interviewed Enrique Salem, CEO of Symantec, which makes Norton anti-Virus Suite (now updated to its newest edition, Norton Internet Security). I was in a big hurry when I wrote the story that appeared in the Jpost, so there was one really important link I forgot to put in – the Symantec Online Risk Assessor, which will tell you just how highly valued you are – to hackers who trade in identity theft!

We’re all aware of the risks in online shopping and banking, but I think most of us wouldn’t worry too much about supplying a site like Amazon with our credit card information. Similarly, many of us check our bank accounts online, and pay bills at web sites. We all believe (hope) those sites are secure, and that the people running those businesses are taking all the precautions possible to protect our data.

But are we? According to Salem, more people than ever are falling for targeted hacker e-mail, where you respond to a link in a message and are taken to a site where something like a keylogger is installed remotely on your computer. The keylogger sends data back to the hackers, who then analyze your keystrokes looking for the “golden ticket” – your credit card number, Social Security number, or any other bit of information that can help them eventually trick you into revealing that information.

Sooner or later, Salem said, they get what they want, by coming up with a message that is so precise, so suited to your situation, that you really believe it came from your boss, sister in law, or anyone you believe the hackers couldn’t possibly know about. Of course they couldn’t – unless they were able to peer into your e-mail, instant messages, and so on.

And if you think it’s just not worth their time to pursue your info – why, you’re underestimating your true value. It’s certainly worth a couple of hours of work to get enough information on you; after all, even in these days of the dogged dollar, $695 is nothing to sneeze at! Ask Nikolai (you see this video after the risk assessor finishers analyzing you, so you can get an idea of just who would be interested in buying your identity in an online auction!).