Chris Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 The Internet today is a breeding ground for criminal activity. Home users, small and medium businesses, international corporations and governmental bodies all suffer from constant attacks by viruses and Trojans. The reasons why the Internet is in this condition have been widely discussed, and will continue to be discussed. But what do I meant when I say that the Internet is a fertile environment for crime? At bottom, it means that money is being made illegally by creating and distributing malicious programs, which will:steal personal and corporate bank account informationsteal credit card numbersconduct DDoS attacks, with the instigators then demanding money to stop the attacks - a cyber racket)create networks of Trojan proxy servers. These can be used to send spam, and for commercial gaincreate zombie networks, which can be exploited in multiple wayscreate programs which download and install adware to the victim machineinstall Trojan dialers which will repeatedly call pay services etc.It's difficult to say exactly how widespread criminal activity is. I think that there are dozens, if not hundreds of hacker groups and individual hackers active in the computer underground. The hackers who belong to groups can probably be numbered in the thousands - this is according to the law enforcement agencies of most computerized countries. Over the last few years several dozen hackers and hacker groups have been arrested, and the total number of arrests topped several hundred. However, this doesn' t seem to have had any real effect on the number of viruses and Trojans.More | Here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Very interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 Though no doubt true, this sort of publicity scares people, especially older people, off the internet.Thos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andsome Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 People should only be scared if they are too lazy to take precautions. I have had my fair share of viruses and malware, but none have caused any bother because of all the barriers that I have erected. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CurlyWhirly Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 People should only be scared if they are too lazy to take precautions.I agree. As long as you are security conscious you should be okay.You are also more at risk if you are like me and do online banking and also buy goods and services online.I don't mind keeping my definitions up to date and scanning occasionally as I realise how important it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r4may Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 People should only be scared if they are too lazy to take precautions.Quite agree.Most security problems can be neutralised by FREE programs so there's no excuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thos Posted December 3, 2005 Report Share Posted December 3, 2005 No. I think that those who have no experience and see all the warnings will not take the plunge and use the technology. They may have no one to turn to in case of trouble and it can be quite frightening.Everywhere you look you see warnings of fraud, of stolen identities and other spy & malware and newcomers don't feel inclined to take the risk, justified or otherwise. It is not laziness, it is fear of the unknown.Thos. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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