Cybercrime Has Become Epidemic Worldwide and Your Risk of Becoming the Next Victim Increases Daily!

Identity theft, cyber bullying, and other computer crimes are at an all time high. Never have so many been at risk of becoming the next victim. A cybersecurity crime can occur any hour of the day or night on anyone's Internet system by some unknown person either within a company, by someone halfway across the world, or even by a vindictive family member.

Recently, several Hollywood celebrities have had their cellphones hacked. Their personal information, photos, text messages and emails were compromised. In the past year, several banks, insurance companies and government offices as high as the Pentagon have been hacked. Important information was stolen.

According to John Jorgensen, CEO of the Sylint Group, hackers have made Florida, where several hundred-thousand elderly have retired, the second highest state of computer crime. Theft of trade secrets has increased by 100% annually, and 80% of this cybercrime is perpetrated from within the company. Trojans and computer worms infect systems and steal personal and company information.

If you're reading this, your unprotected equipment is at risk; 70% of all laptops stolen are stolen for their information value, not their physical value, and 68% of wireless networks are unprotected. Identity theft accounts for less than 20% of all cybercrime. Think you can find the perpetrator and sue? Think again. Only about 7% of cybercrime is prosecuted and law enforcement cannot protect you.

The entire month of October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security in cooperation with the National Cyber Security Alliance (NCSA) and the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC), the aim is to bring awareness of the increasing dangers of cyber crimes, not only to our national government organizations, banks and other major American corporations, but to each individual user of the Internet.

The theme this year is "Our Shared Responsibility" and is meant to reflect how interconnected we are to everyone in our highly technical, modern world. Although the government's goal is to encourage hundreds of forums on the issues in schools, colleges, universities and businesses throughout the country, each of us can do our part, either within our family unit, or even in a neighborhood forum via a potluck dinner or barbeque.

Don't think you're not at risk! If you use a home PC, a notebook, an iPad or iPhone or any other piece of equipment that connects you to cyberspace, your files can be hacked. If you use the free wireless connections at hotels, Starbucks or any other gathering place, you're at serious risk. Your system can be easily hacked, your identity stolen, and your financial information gathered and sold to criminals worldwide. You can become the victim of cyber bullying. Devises used by government and military officials and private detectives are also used by cyber criminals. Make it your goal right now, today, to learn all you can about protecting yourself and your family members. Discuss the problems with your children of all ages. Learn about password protection, encryption, proper erasure of files, anti-virus and anti-spy software, staying safe on social networks, and a host of other vitally important security measures. Go to the following government website at this URL and spend an hour arming yourself with knowledge. Knowledge is empowerment. Take charge of your personal and business use of cyberspace.

Remember... this is "Our Shared Responsibility."

Here are a few simple things you can do to practice cybersecurity during National Cyber Security Awareness Month and throughout the year:

Download tip sheets on how to stay safe in a variety of online settings: on social networking sites, on gaming sites, on your mobile device, and distribute them within your community.

Add a signature block to your e-mail: "October is National Cyber Security Awareness Month. Stay Safe Online! Visit www.staysafeonline.org for the latest cybersecurity tips."

Romina Wilcox is the author of two Silicon Valley-based cyber-crime thrillers, Cold Eyes and The Calendar. Visit http://www.RominaWilcox.com to learn more about her work.

E-Mail Phishing - What It Is And How To Avoid Becoming A Victim

It's official now that E-mail has become the quickest, most reliable and convenient way of sending messages today. Because of this fact, it has also become the most targeted venue of frauds, scams, spam and other dangers. The majority of online users are oblivious to these dangers, you don't have to be. One of the most dangerous e-mail scams are Phishing sites.

What is a Phishing Site - Phishing sites are sites that are disguised as trust-worthy site, such as PayPal or A credit card processing company like Visa or A bank. The purpose of these sites is to trick you into giving up your private information, Such as your password, account name, bank number and credit card number. The criminals that are behind this are called "phishers". The phishers then can use your private information to steal all your money or commit cyber crimes.

Solutions To Phishing Sites - The phishing site emails are often disguised as a warning email telling you that someone has accessed your account or such; it will demand your immediate action. Don't be fooled by them!

Phishing sites are easy to tell once you know where to look. If the email provides you a link to click on, simply hover your mouse pointer over the link and look at your status bar. The status bar is often located to the bottom left corner of your browser. If the link contains a long string of html that contains a strange string of text with no associations with the companies' name on it, it is most likely a phishing site.

Why are they targeting you - You have become a target because you probably haven't been very careful with your email address. Phishers uses programs called "Email Leechers" to extract your email address. These programs will access a website and then scans it for any line of text that contains the "@" sign. It will collect all these names and create a massive list of email addresses that the phishers then can later use to commit cyber crimes.

There is no real solution to preventing your email address from falling to the wrong hands because if the phishers are persistent they can get your email address no matter what, but there are easy steps you can take to dithers their efforts and reduce the risks considerably.

1) Give a phony or throw away Email address - This is a no-brainer, create throw away email addresses, and keep your important email address for important matters. You can get all the free email addresses you want from Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Mail.com.

2) Disguise your email address - On forums, use (a) or (at) or clever imitations of these if you are communicating with someone and needed them to send you an email. Let them now that they should replay the (at) with "@".

Example: "YourName123 (at) Mail.com"

3) Don't Give out your Email Address - This is simple never ever give out your email address unless you know exactly who you are giving it to.

4) Download Anti-Spam Programs - Anti-spam programs can automatically identify and filter good sites from bad sites from your Email inbox. You can also manually add your own list of trusted sites to customize who you want to receive messages from and you don't.

Phishing is a crime and you don't need to be a victim, Takes these steps and precautions and you will have a very safe time online. Here's to you and a safer internet experience.

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