Hacking and Sextortion

Okay, so I "liked" the FBI on Facebook and this entry popped up the other day and I think it's pretty relevant to our class. This highlights some of the scarier things that can happen to people online. We've talked about cyberbullying but there are worse things that can happen to someone online.


Click here to read the article



Basically what happened was that a hacker got viruses into people's computers that allowed him to see everything and use their webcams to watch them. 


Here are some quotes from the article that I found particularly disturbing.


"The hacker knew every move the unsuspecting victim made. He controlled her computer webcam and microphone. He could see her in her bedroom, hear her conversations, knew every keystroke she made online. And he threatened to expose her secrets unless she bowed to his demands"


--It is too scary to think of someone being able to watch what you're doing from your computer. In my room, my computer is set up right across from my bed. If someone hacked my computer they could creep on me while I'm sleeping. The FBI recommends turning off your computer when it's not in use or covering your webcam. I used to think people who covered their webcams were just being paranoid, but now I'll probably start doing it too. 


"After the hacker infected one computer, he used a popular social networking site—and a technique called “spear phishing”—to spread the virus"


--Ever gotten a spam message on Facebook? I'm sure you knew that clicking the link could cause a virus, but did you ever consider that it could let a hacker be able to see every move you make?


"In several instances, the hacker posed online as a young woman’s friend or sister and sent messages with attachments asking if the victim wanted to see a scary video. Because the messages appeared to be from a trusted source, the victims usually didn’t think twice about opening the attachment. When they did, the virus secretly installed itself, and the hacker had total control over their computers—including all files and folders, webcams, and microphones."


--This is just scary! My roommate sends me links to videos all the time. I would never question a link coming from her screen name.


"“And this guy was no computer genius,” Agent Kirkpatrick said. 'Anybody could do what he did just by watching an online video and following the directions.'"


--This is also scary. The fact that it's so easy! Crazy!


Alright, so sorry to get all dark and gloomy on you guys, but I just thought this scenario was too scary! Clearly there's a very dark side to the internet that we haven't touched on.


What do you guys think about all of this? Is there anything we can do to stop it? 


Maybe we should be working on more stringent security devices for computers that can better detect this hacking and stop it. 


I just think it's all very disturbing and I'm interested in hearing your opinions!