What to Do If Your Online Account's Been Hacked

What to Do If Your Online Account's Been Hacked

  11:26:00 PM    Science Lover

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Dylan Valade owns a Web design and software business. As part of his business, he deals with Web and network security issues every day.

One day, Valade received a confirmation email from a brokerage account letting him know that a trade had been made. That would have been fine, except for one thing.

"In this case, a stock had been sold that I did not sell," Valade said.

Recognizing that the account had been compromised, Valade changed all of his passwords immediately.

"My brokerage account was closed and a new one was opened," he added. "The equities were transferred to the new account, with a new login and password."

Valade's experience happened on a brokerage site, but any online account can be a target.

"The most valuable targets are financial services like PayPal, online bank accounts and investment accounts," explained Morgan Slain of Los Gatos, Calif.-based SplashData. "Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social networking sites are increasingly common targets. Online email accounts, including Gmail and Yahoo! Mail, are often hacked too."

The most sophisticated hackers actually don't target individual accounts, but instead go after repositories of account data on servers owned by large organizations, which is why companies such as Sony and Epsilon, a major email forwarder, are targeted.



What the hackers are looking to steal depends on the type of account they are hacking into. When banks or financial services such as PayPal are targeted, the objective is to steal money.

"But often the hacker has a larger objective than attacking one individual," said Lance James, director of intelligence at New York's Vigilant. "In most cases, they're gaining access to email or social network accounts specifically to enable further distribution of their activity, or to steal information that will give them access to other places — potentially more valuable places. For example, a hacker might conduct a series of intrusions with the aim of getting into an employer's payroll system."

If one of your online accounts has been hacked, it compromises the overall integrity of your computer, James added. This comes with two primary manners of impact.

"First, if there [was] personal or confidential information on that system, the owner must assume it has been hijacked by criminals," he explained. "This could have long-lasting effects including identity theft, credit fraud, bank account theft and misplaced trust between friends and associates.

"Second — in some ways more detrimental in terms of reach — that compromised computer can be used to launch attacks against others, expanding the sphere of impact geometrically," James said. "It is therefore the responsibility of organizations and every individual to take precautions wherever they can."

The surest sign that your account has been compromised is unusual activity.

"For a financial account like PayPal, the most obvious sign that your account has been compromised are suspicious transactions," said Kevin McNamee, security architect at Kindsight of Mountain View, Calif. "You should regularly check your account to look for any unauthorized transactions and report them immediately.

"For social networking services like Facebook," McNamee added, "you may notice unusual activity on your wall, but the most likely indication that something is wrong is when your friends ask why you’ve been sending them unusual links and email messages."

Some things to look for, according to Chris Boyd, senior threat researcher at GFI Software of Cary, N.C., include:

— Friends are asking you about random requests for money or messages that you've apparently sent them, claiming that you're stranded somewhere – for example, messages saying you got mugged in London. Scammers use this tactic for financial fraud. This is an especially popular tactic where compromised Facebook accounts are concerned, due to exploiting the trust of friends and family.

— Strange messages are posted from your Twitter account promoting websites and offers that you're unaware of.

— You find you're selling items on eBay that you didn't list.

If you find that one of your accounts has been compromised, the first step is to ensure that no additional damage can be done, McNamee suggested.

If you still have access to the account, change the password immediately. And then change the passwords to other online accounts, especially for any accounts that share an email address and/or a password with the compromised account.

Also, said McNamee, contact the organization that operates the service and let them know that your account has been compromised.

"Their website will provide information on how to report a problem and regain control over your account," he said.

If the account that was compromised held any financial data or credit/debit card information, James said it's best to contact the financial institutions and cancel the cards.

Even the most vigilant computer user is at risk for an attack. But Asaf Greiner, vice president of products at Sunnyvale, Calif.'s Commtouch, provided the following tips that will keep your accounts less vulnerable to a hacker:

— Use different passwords for different accounts, so if you lose one, you don't lose them all.

— Use strong passwords (e.g. ones that are hard to guess), especially with more valuable resources, such as bank accounts. When possible, use multiple-factor authentication, as with a code-number-generating token. If you find passwords hard to remember, use a password vault application to remember them for you.

— Install all recommended software patches and updates – and anti-virus software – on machines you manage.

— Don't log into valuable accounts from public machines or from unencrypted Wi-Fi networks.

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Alzheimer's Researchers Find High Protein Diet Shrinks Brain

Alzheimer's Researchers Find High Protein Diet Shrinks Brain

  2:16:00 AM    Science Lover

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One of the many reasons to pick a low-calorie, low-fat diet rich in vegetables, fruits, and fish is that a host of epidemiological studies have suggested that such a diet may delay the onset or slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Now a study published in BioMed Central's open access journal Molecular Neurodegeneration tests the effects of several diets, head-to-head, for their effects on AD pathology in a mouse model of the disease. Although the researchers were focused on triggers for brain plaque formation, they also found that, unexpectedly, a high protein diet apparently led to a smaller brain.

Researchers studying Alzheimer's disease found that, unexpectedly, a high protein diet apparently led to a smaller brain. (Credit: iStockphoto/Kelly Cline) 

A research team from the US, Canada, and the UK tested four differing menus on transgenic mouse model of AD, which express a mutant form of the human amyloid precursor protein (APP). APP's role in the brain is not fully understood; however it is of great interest to AD researchers because the body uses it to generate the amyloid plaques typical of Alzheimer's. These mice were fed either

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Flying car takes off !

Flying car takes off !

  9:27:00 PM    Science Lover

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The first flying automobile – equally at home in the sky and on the road – took to the skies on Wednesday. Dubbed the Transition, the two-seat aircraft – designed by US-based company Terrafugia (terra-FOO-gee-ah), Inc – is capable of taking off and landing at local airports, and even being driven on any road.

In fact, transforming from plane to car takes the pilot less than 30 seconds.

“This breakthrough changes the world of personal mobility,” said Carl Dietrich, CEO of Terrafugia – a name that means “escape from land” in Latin.

“Travel will now become a hassle-free, integrated land-air experience. A pilot who encounters bad weather could simply land at a small airport and continue the trip by road. It’s what aviation enthusiasts have been striving for since 1918,” he said.

Dietrich claimed that Transition is capable of flying 720 km on a single tank of petrol, at a speed of 180kmph.

While on land, the vehicle boasts of top speeds of up to 150kmph, he added.

For its first flight, the Transition was flown by Phil Meteer, Colonel, USAFR at Plattsburgh International Airport in New York.

Categorised as a Light Sport Aircraft, the Transition will now undergo additional advanced flight and drive testing, and a pre-production prototype will be built and certified before first delivery.

Dietrich said he had already received 40 orders despite an expected price of $2,00,000 (Rs 1 crore approx). Still, he accepted concerns over its price.

Left: Terrafugia CEO Carl Dietrich refuels the petrol-based Transition flying car at a
regular petrol pump Right: The Transition at take-off

“For an airplane that’s very reasonable, but for a car that’s very much at the high end,” he admitted.

Fabricated out of modern composite materials, the plane has front wheel drive on the road and a propeller for flight. Both the modes are powered by unleaded petrol from a regular pump.

Also, with its wings folded, it can fit in an ordinary garage or parking space.

“This is the first really integrated design where the wings fold up automatically and all the parts are in one vehicle,” Dietrich said.

As for learning to fly, the company CEO believed that almost anyone could become a pilot in as little as 20 hours of flight time in a Transition-specific course.

“Existing pilots,” he said, “could get comfortable quickly with the familiarisation training included with every Transition delivery.”

If you like this post, buy me a beer at $3!

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