Cyberstalking - Spyware and Privacy Protection

Know the Tools Cybercriminals Use to Access Your Information

There are so few people who understand how to stop a cyberstalker and repair the damage. Thousands become victims every year, and each of us is vulnerable. I know this firsthand because I was once a victim of cyberstalking. It took me years to recover my life and get my credit in order. Ever since then, my goal has been to shake people up and instill enough awareness of cyberstalking to get everyone to take protective and preventative steps both on and offline.

Cyberstalking CAN Happen To You

Think again. It can happen to you and here are some of the reasons:

• Our global society's over reliance on technology
• The increasing affordability of technology and its ease of use (virus software that used to be in the thousands is now less than a hundred dollars to purchase)
• The remote distance and anonymity technology provides to give cover to those who would hesitate to do something more traceable
• Not to mention the lack of enforceable laws – or even laws that address the problem period - to protect people

For all these reasons there has been a rapid rise in cyberstalking incidents.

We are all vulnerable.

The New Wild West Is Online

Here are some other famous people who have been hacked and harassed in the last few years: Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly, Miley Cyrus. While it isn't surprising that a celebrity might draw more ire or attention, they represent our collective vulnerability. Despite the familiarity and ease we feel while using the Internet, it is still a technological frontier town. The internet is only just coming out of its infancy and in many ways as unprotected as the Western one of our past. Lawmakers and consumers can't keep up with the swift leaps in accessible technology to know what is truly possible and what isn't.

Privacy protection programs for consumers including victims of crime are inadequate. Often police can't make an arrest because there is no evidence of a crime being committed. Over and over I've heard about victims being treated like idiots by law enforcement. I've been there, trying to explain what happened on my computer and why it's important, and meanwhile the cop taking my report pats me on the head and tells me to go home. With no smoking gun, it's only your word that a crime happened at all.

Cyberstalkers don't have to be super-hackers or have superior intelligence to achieve their goals. A quick search on the internet can reveal various cyberstalker tool kits making it easy for cyberstalkers to wreak havoc with little or no effort.

The Tools of the Trade

Take keylogging spyware for example. Keylogging spyware can be purchased online which provides a cyberstalker with detailed instructions explaining how to disguise the spyware as an innocuous file, such as a photo, attached to an email to send out to an unsuspecting victim. When you click on the disguised file thinking you're going to see a photograph of kittens in a basket, the keylogger spyware is silently installed in the background without your knowledge. This spyware records every keystroke typed on the victim's computer.

Think about that…your passwords, captured images on your computer screen and tracking all the websites you visit (including your credit card information if you log it in anywhere). To access the information, RemoteSpy clients would log into a website maintained by the online keylogging spyware company.

Sounds far-fetched, but millions of people have been victimized by this spyware and probably don't even know it. At the request of the Federal Trade Commission, a U.S. District Court has issued a temporary restraining order halting the sale of keylogger spyware. According to the FTC's complaint, the Florida-based CyberSpy Software, LLC marketed and sold RemoteSpy keylogger spyware to clients who would then secretly monitor unsuspecting consumers' computers.

And yet in law terms a "complaint" is not a finding or ruling that the defendants have actually violated the law. Another website selling key logging spyware will surely (if not already) pop up and continue to sell the keylogging spyware under another name.

Cyberstalking and Your Credit Rating Falsely Damaging Credit Is Another Way To Cause Significant Harm

A cyberstalker out to get you can easily hit you where it hurts the most -- in the wallet -- by deliberately destroying your credit rating. As the story below illustrates, it's a very simple process with a number of surprising loopholes that make us all vulnerable.

Messing With Credit - A Cautionary Tale

Margret was applying for a car loan. It was going to be her first brand new car and her first major debt. With building excitement she chose the perfect car within her budget and the salesperson took her to see the finance manager to complete the deal. But after a few minutes at the computer, the finance manager told Jenna that her car loan was denied.

"But that's not possible!" Jenna cried. After pressing the finance manager for a reason, she finally told Jenna that her rating showed an excessive number of credit inquiries, a big no-no that brings the credit rating down and gives an unfavorable impression.

Jenna was shocked — she had not applied for any new credit.

Turns out what she had done was move out of the apartment that she shared with a college friend. That "friend" was not very happy with Jenna because when Jenna left, the roommate had to find another roommate fast to make rent. Instead of working it out with Jenna in person, she'd pulled a cheap vengeful trick and put in several credit inquires on Jenna's behalf. No one asks for ID when you fill out a credit card application online or when one is completed and dropped in the mail.

Simple Tricks Have Huge Impact

Your credit report is the key to your financial health in our society, and yet it is one of the most vulnerable areas in your online portfolio. Very simple tricks like sending in multiple credit card applications with wrong addresses or spelling can start taking points off your credit rating and are nearly impossible to clean up – and take endless hours to handle.

The major credit institutions (Equifax, Trans Union and Experian) aren't in the least bit customer service oriented. You will rarely if ever get an actual person on the phone. The only method for repairing falsely damaged credit is a long, arduous letter-writing campaign which has unpredictable results. It's damaging to your safety and future and eats up huge amounts of time.

Worse, you have no way of finding out if any third party checks your credit report without your knowledge.

Remember that a 'cyberstalker' can obtain almost any information needed about you by his/her willingness to Google Search you nanme and or pay money to a company that specializes in furnishing data to the public . These companies are called "data furnishers" and they have the right to tap into your credit information without telling you – or who, exactly, was asking for it.