There are so many instances wherein a person’s identity was stolen. For instance, one person was just surprised to see a long list of credit card charges when in fact he did not make any of the purchases. Well, this is due to the so-called “stealing identity”. Few years back, the techniques in doing this was just so simple. Mostly, these people just scavenge from your used details, credit card bills, and other documents thrown away.

As technology advanced, these ’scavengers’ now become hackers. They steal your personal details provided in different sites and use it for their own benefits. A news report revealed that there was a trio of hackers charged with stealing credit and debit card details. These threesome were so successful in their scheme that they were able to steal more than 130 million debit and credit card data. In fact, the triad hacked credit card payment processing firm, Heartland Payment Systems in the year 2008. They also hacked establishments like 7-Eleven.

I think these three are not using their intellegence in a good way. Just imagine how young they are and now they will be charged and will soon be put behind bars. One of them is as young as 28 years old. They will soon spend 35 years of their lives behind bars and they are penalized to pay $35 Million.

I really felt scared in this case. Just imagine, regardless of how good your anti-virus is, you are still susceptible to these criminals. So, as early as possible, we should protect ourselves from these hackers.

Remember these tips:

1. We may think that those firewals are bothersome. But, if you want to protect yourself from hackers, then enable those firewalls.2. Hackers can also send you emails. Therefore, be cautious. If you got an email from someone you don’t know. Then don’t open it. Especially if it has an attachment, don’t ever open it. Don’t believe those emails even if it has a subject telling you “You Won” something blah-blah-blah. Those emails from unknown individuals may contain viruses. Also, remember not to send any confidential information through email.

3. Always update your operating system. While others think that this is time-consuming and useless, it is still best to take time and update your OS. Anyway, these are free of charge but it does keep your PCs safe.
We don’t want to be the next victim of these hackers. Remember to take these precautionary measures.

Source: Protect Yourself from Hackers