Spam is more than just annoying

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By Herb Weisbaum

Summary

Junk e-mail is one of the main ways bad guys in cyber-space load malicious code onto people's computers. This code can result in identity theft or allow a cyber-crook to hijack your computer.

Story Published: Jan 7, 2008 at 10:09 AM PDT

Story Updated: Jan 24, 2008 at 4:48 PM PDT

Spam is more than just annoying
Spam is changing, and not for the better. These days, it's much more than just annoying.

"Increasingly spam is being used for really bad purposes," says Eileen Harrington of the Federal Trade Commission in Washington, DC.

Harrington says junk e-mail is one of the main ways bad guys in cyber-space load malicious code onto people's computers. This code can result in identity theft or allow a cyber-crook to hijack your computer.

"This is code that turns a person's computer into a spam machine," Harrington told me.

And here's the really scary part. It means anyone anywhere could be sending out Nigerian e-mails, stock offers, or even offers to buy cheap pharmaceuticals and not even know it.

"Typically, a person whose computer has had that kind of code loaded on to it won't even realize it," Harrington says.

And of course, everything that's in your computer is at risk. Hackers can see everything on your hard drive, use a keystroke logger to see everything you type -- even turn on your computer camera and spy on you.

The FTC says the bad guys are currently able to control more than a million computers across the country.

Serry Winkler of Golden, Colo., found out about all this the hard way. She discovered her computer was infected with spyware when the police showed up at her door.

"They explained that they had a warrant for my computer," she says.

"And they came in and they explained that somebody had stolen a credit card online, bought some merchandise for Sears using the stolen credit card and used my IP address to do all this."

The experience has left her shaken.

"It was pretty obvious that if they had gone that far, they probably knew everything about my finances," she says.

How do you protect yourself? Have good security software and keep it updated. Make sure you have the latest patches for your computer and don't open attachments or any e-mail for that matter, from senders you don't know.

For More Information:

FTC Issues Staff Report on Malicious Spam and Phishing