Tech Talk with Bob: Grammy Gets Hacked! Grammy was so excited that morning. Her granddaughter Karla was coming to spend the day. Grammy had fun plans to entertain them both. They would play games, read books, walk to the park, and bake some cookies. After the cookies, Grammy started to clean up the kitchen. Karla was still full of energy and became bored. She asked Grammy if she could play on her computer. Karla went to a website that her mom lets her play games on. Karla did not remember her login information and her parents were unreachable so Grammy appeased Karla by creating a new account. The website only wanted Grammy’s email address and requested she set up a pass word. Well, Grammy never set up a web account before. Her grandson had set up her email, banking, and investment accounts for her, so she only really knew how to login to them. Grammy was so happy when she successfully set up the account for Karla’s game on her own. All it wanted was her email address and to set up a password. Karla was thrilled. Grammy, delighted. Life goes on. Karla eventually loses interest in the game and Grammy forgets all about the credentials she used to create that game’s online account. Grammy always runs quality anti-malware software on her computer and keeps it up to date. Plus, Grammy doesn’t bop all over the web.
10 JUNE 2021
She primarily sticks with her usual online banking and investment sites. Grammy is quite the good girl when it comes to her internet browsing habits. A year later, out of the blue, Grammy’s bank account gets hacked. Grammy, her family, and even the bank, cannot figure out how it happened. They would later learn about the infringement that may very well been the cause of Grammy’s bank account getting hacked. Let me clarify, Grammy’s banking institution did not get hacked. It was Grammy’s personal bank account that was hacked. Someone had her password. Remember that website where Karla wanted to play, and Grammy set up? We’ll that website’s online database with Grammy’s email address and password was hacked two months ago. Now, without her knowledge, Grammy’s information (her email address
and password) is exposed for sale on the internet. Criminals will buy this information and hack into banking sites hoping some of the combinations work granting easy entry into bank accounts of unsuspecting people. Grammy’s mistake. She used the same password for Karla’s gaming website that she uses for her bank account. Of course, Grammy has only the one email account, but she should have created a different password for the gaming website instead of using the same password she uses for her bank account. When the gaming site was hacked, scammers who bought the list of email addresses and passwords from the hackers, used this information to perform credential stuffing attacks on major banking sites. Most people typically only have one email address. And that is fine. The moral of the story… Even though you may have to use the same email
address on every website, DO NOT use the same password on other websites. Oh, that’s bad; because if one website gets hacked, your other websites are at risk of being hacked too. Why? Because your email address with an accompanying “working” password is now available to online criminals. We can help you find out if your email address has been exposed. If it hasn’t, we can and help you take the steps to head-off potential hacks to your accounts. If it has, we can help you with that too. Call us now 727-534-4000. It is your responsibility to protect your personal network, your computer’s operation, and your data. Whether you are a business or non-profit, even a home user, who keeps records about clients, customers, club-members, prospects, employees, vendors, sales, budgets, inventories, taxes… you get the idea; cyber criminals will exploit any easy, unprotected system. How safe are you? My staff and I are here to keep your computer safer and keep you up and running. If you question your computer’s safety or performance, please have a professionally certified computer technician check it. Should you need a certified professional, call us now at 727-534-4000. We’ve been helping folks restore their peace of mind, and sanity, with their technology for decades. We Keep You Safer In Your Digital World!
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