My past two columns have dealt with the mechanics of electronic communications across the Internet, such as email. A basic understanding of how email really works, what usernames and passwords are good for and where your messages go before reaching their destination is important if you want to protect yourself from Internet crooks.
There are essentially two major categories of Internet crooks: crooks who work for state-run, government agencies, and crooks who work for more commonly-understood criminal groups, like the Russian Mafia, or global drug cartels.
Much has been discussed recently about quasi-legalized crookery practiced by three-letter government spy organizations like the National Security Agency (NSA). The revelations by NSA rat Edward Snowden brought very few new concepts to light, though.
Few people are aware, for example, of surveillance operations such as Project ECHELON, in which the spy agencies of the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom agreed to and built staggeringly-huge systems to intercept all electronic communications from all of their citizens, all the time. While largely ignored by the mainstream media, facts about ECHELON have been known in technically-inclined arenas for over 25 years, with the groundwork being laid for the creation of this global Orwellian system in the 1960s.
The difference between then and now is that the vast amount of information revealed in the Edward Snowden affair is easily proven, making it difficult for American news outlets to ignore. What was once dismissed as conspiracy-theory wackiness is now a topic of national discussion.
The focus of these columns, however, is not how to protect your information from government spies. If I go down that road, then we will have to look at issues like privacy and anonymity, subjects which I could write about until the cows come home. While government spooks may be stealing information from you, I doubt if they are making illicit charges to your credit card, or using your identity to get fraudulent home mortgages. Besides, if the CIA is after you, I can’t help you, anyway. With all those disclaimers in mind, I will limit the discussion to what I believe normal computer users can actually achieve: protecting themselves against Internet criminals who are trying to steal their money.
The basics of protecting your online communications include using good passwords; choosing effective answers to so-called “security questions”; installing and learning to use good protection software, such as antivirus programs, and good cleanup/maintenance software; being aware of information-stealing devices like USB keyloggers, and limiting what you say online, in emails, with messaging services and on websites like Facebook.
You may wonder why you should care about email safety, in the first place. Maybe you are one of those, “I never say anything important in my emails, so what do I care,” people. Here are some things to consider.
Even though you may not put what you consider to be “important” things in your emails, email is the gateway to most of your online activities. Almost every online account you can establish, be it banking, credit, shopping or entertainment, demands that you provide a valid email address when you initially setup the account. Your email address is part of your online identity and is used to verify who you are.
If your email account becomes compromised (fancy geek talk for “hacked”), and is being controlled by someone else, all of a sudden, they become you, with all of the rights and privileges inherent therein. They can change the passwords to all of your accounts. They can buy and sell things in your name. They can setup new accounts that you’ll never know about, conducting business on the Internet, masquerading as you. They can launch online gambling sprees. They can login to social networking sites like Facebook and scam all your friends. They can send all your friends scam emails, tricking them into making purchases, sending money to help you out of a jam, or getting their email accounts hacked, too, and the list goes on.
Next week, more on protecting your online communications.