BEWARE! PRIVATE!

We live in a technological society that is controlled by devices such as the computer and the cell phone. Throughout the world, over 3 billion people are using the internet and of that 3 billion an alarming 26% of the United States does not use anti-virus software, which could potentially save vital information. Knowing this information, the number of cybercriminals has increased significantly over the years and is continuing to rise every day. The first step to becoming protected is to understand how these hackers are able to access your information and figure out what you can do to prevent this.

Are You Protected

Despite heavy protection on computer software, hackers are still able to access your personal information with a couple of sneaky schemes and tactics. First, these hackers will hide illegitimate software in certain malware downloads so they can gain access to personal information like your email and websites. In 2012, trusted items such as Microsoft Word and Adobe were commonly sent in an email as an attachment, so when you open this attachment they gain access to your protected files. Even if you do have anti-virus software that is protecting your computer it can be disabled by these savvy hackers. For instance, pop-ups will be present saying that a credit card must be applied to keep your anti-virus software running or fake anti-virus software will appear saying there are problems and they need to be fixed; this is commonly known as scareware. 

Unfortunately hackers aren't the only thing computer users must worry about, one of the most controversial topic are cookies. Yes you heard that right, but not the chocolate or sugar kind, the less appealing and edible computer cookies. Cookies are formed in many ways; for instance, whenever you go to a website that you look to purchase something and put that item in your cart or proceed to buy, you will generate a third party ad on different websites you use. A more hardcore example can be shown when you are on a website like Pandora, which breaks from time to time to advertise and allows them to play free music. Notice that certain advertisements may be similar to the things that you have been looking at on the internet, but it's no common occurrence it's the cookies on your computer.  

Privacy laws have been put into place, but they will certainly have to be evaluated in the near future. With applications on phones such as Snapchat, this allows users to send pictures to other friends, and actually stores the pictures that are sent. Hackers could potentially gain access into this vault and release pictures that individuals never thought would come to head. 

Be conscious of what websites you visit and always do not open something that you do not trust. One day at a time, we can keep our internet private!