Joe's Security

Recently, a friend was trying to help his grandmother understand more about computer security. No matter what was said, it was clear she believed her computer was safe from hackers - if for no other reason than "why would they want to break into my computer? I'm nobody!" Well grandmom, this article is for you and anyone else who simply doesn't know why that EVERY single Internet-connected computer is a valuable hacker target!

Joe's Top 10 reasons why "Hackers want your grandmother's computer."

1. The "fun" of breaking in - There are a lot of 10 to twenty-somethings with time on their hands, bored or just fascinated with computer hacking. And since computer "breaking and entering" doesn't seem like real "breaking and entering," and since the chances of getting caught are pretty small... why not?

2.  Vandalism - Hey, if someone leaves their computer unprotected, why not hack into it and toss in some nasty computer virus or delete their hard drive? Wheeee!

3. Free computer - When a hacker wants to break into other computers, they don't do it from their own computer, they'd rather use yours. So if they get caught, you get investigated! Sweet! How do they do this? Just throw in a little remote control software and use it for... whatever! Oh, and when this happens on your computer... you probably won't know - it'll just seem a little slower...

4. Identity theft - Gee, when a hacker gets this far, why not just drop in some software that captures all your keystrokes? It'll grab what you typed into citibank.com - when you checked your credit card bill. Hmmm, you used a login name of "Granny G" and your password is "ApplePie?" this can be put to good use, trust me!  :)

5. Extortion - You don't pay bills with your computer? No worries, because Mr. Hacker can just drop on some nasty code that pops up a window saying a "virus was found" and "click here to buy a virus removal program." Did they tell you that when you "clicked here" then gave them your credit card info to buy the software, they plan on using your credit card info for themselves? No? 

6. Zombie attacker - Just like a military assault, an attacker will use as many "soldiers" as they can to bring down their enemy. In computer "warfare" if having 10 remote-controllable computers at your command is good, then how much more powerful is a thousand, or a million? This is what a "botnet" (robot network) is, and a hacker is most happy to get grandmother's computer to enlist.

7. Spam - Billions of spam come from computers just like your grandmothers! Just one of the "fun" things hackers use "Botnets" for - infect a few million unprotected computers with some "Bot" code, then have your army of "Bots" spew out zillions of spams. Next time you get a spam for some "Good Medz," it may have come from your grandmother's computer. Nice!

8. Back door into corporate networks - Maybe grandmother doesn't log into a corporate network, but when she visits her daughter might. And when she does using Granny's "hacker owned" computer, it will likely try to inject some nasty code into her work network during her remote session.

9. Organized crime - In Eastern Europe and elsewhere, organized crime pays programmers to find new, unknown vulnerabilities for Windows, Linux, etc. In fact, it's estimated that when one of these "holes" is discovered, it's worth well more than $100,000! Why? Organized crime will use these to break into database computers owned by banks or other large corporations, to steal sensitive data. Extortion is a common use of stolen data, it works something like this.

- Hacker for organized crime steals data from XYZ Corp - social security, credit card numbers, etc.
- XYZ Corp is anonymously contacted about their "data leak," and sent a sample of what was stolen.
- XYZ is then informed that "anonymous" has the "fix" for their data leak.
- But a "consulting fee" is required to get the fix, and to keep all this quiet.
- Otherwise disclosure of this leak to the news media could be very bad for business...

Oh yeah, and they did some or all this using Granny's computer to hide behind...

10. Foreign enemies - On Apr. 8, 2009, the Wall Street Journal published an article saying "Cyberspies have penetrated the U.S. electrical grid and left behind software programs that could be used to disrupt the system..." Just as with organized crime, why wouldn't foreign cyberspies want to use someone else's computer from which to launch their hacks and attacks?

So there you have it - some scary stuff. Out of the box, new PC's (and Macs, too) aren't as tough as you'd think, even with good anti-virus or "security" software. The good news is that protecting Grandmother's (or your) home computer isn't hard or expensive, but a few important steps need to be taken. So check out and do Joe's 5 steps, and tell hackers to "take a hike."