“I don’t bank online, I don’t store sensitive information on my machine! I only use it to check email. What could hackers possibly want with this hunk of junk?”

Reporter Brian Krebs explains why you should think again.

You can read Krebs’ full article at 
https://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/10/the-scrap-value-of-a-hacked-pc-revisited/ 

But that’s not all.

The article is now several years old, and these risks are child’s play to today’s sophisticated fraudsters.  They can do all that and far more.

We all need to consider that what scammers can do with the information they piece together about your identity, even from seemingly safe computer use, could do serious damage to your reputation and/or credit rating – even if you have no credit-related information on your computer.

They piece together enough information to simulate your identity for whatever purpose they want.  That’s not fair, but it happens.

What you can do to protect yourself is invest some time to find out what the various types of computer security software do, install software that is appropriate to your needs, keep it updated, and make sure it runs properly and regularly.

Until next time,
Stay safe online 🙂