Identity theft: the starting point of cyber-crime
The first concern of any criminal is to get away unscathed. It can be said that in most crimes 90% of the planning time is devoted to how to ensure impunity.
Unfortunately, in the Internet world this first premise is quite easy to solve, and impersonation or illegitimate use of other people's equipment is the first thing that Hackers, Cyber Criminals, stalkers and all the succession of illegal actors that daily use the Internet for their purposes learn to do.
Wi-Fi networks provide an excellent entry point
The wifi network has long been one of the weakest entry points to our system and it is already possible to hack it from a simple cell phone. Most of the time the purpose of this illegal entry into our network is none other than to enjoy our free bandwidth, or use it occasionally on trips and travels, but it is also possible that someone can enter our WiFi network to commit computer crimes, which can also generate a serious added problem.
This is possible because:
- No physical access to your systems is required to attack. With a directional antenna it can even be done remotely.
- Password cracking tools are freely available.
- Multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in encryption protocols. In the case of WEP they are very serious.
In this article we give some basic tips on how to secure your WiFi network.
Trojans, rootkits and hacking tools
It must also be said that there are a multitude of remote computer hacking tools that are, along with the necessary knowledge to use them, freely available to anyone with minimal computer skills. These computer tools can allow:
- The illegitimate use of our systems, supplanting our identity for all purposes.
- Theft of privileged information.
- The access to our privacy (even through the camera and microphone of our computer), opening the door to criminal behavior of extortion, harassment, etc.
That is why we always recommend, in addition to securing our wireless network, to protect our computers with at least the following measures:
- Have individualized users. Onlythose who are strictly necessary should have administrative privileges.
- Install only the necessary software on our systems so that everyone can do their job.
- Renew our passwords often. Periodically and whenever an employee leaves the company or any type of conflict is generated with someone who may have had access to the systems.
- Physically block the webcams of our computers when they are not in use (most of the current laptops already have it).
- Provide training to staff and family on proper internet behavior.
- Use appropriate anti-virus and anti-malware software.