Loading ...The reports of hacking of computers and stealing of personal information are increasing everyday. According to Frank Work, the Privacy Commissioner of Alberta, the reported statistics for computer hacking offends have been very shocking and unbelievable. The Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner has received as many as 90 complaints during the past 16 months. Among these 90 complaints, many could be traced back to human carelessness, such as sending out e-mails by mistake to wrong addresses.
In May 2010, it was made mandatory in Alberta to report information about the risk of important offends. This happened after a very serious security breach broke out in January 2010. This took place in one of the universities – Calgary Medical Clinic’s Sunridge. It was reported that in one of the computers, nine Trojans were found. The main reason behind this infection was:
• Old computers were not scanned regularly for viruses.
• Outdated antivirus and operating systems were being used.
• Administrator accounts were created unnecessarily, due to which malicious software were spread.
The University server stored information of 5,000 people, which included patients’ data such as names, date of birth, genders, patient’s physicians name, etc.
Mr. Work said,“If you run out-of-date operating systems and anti-virus, along with unneeded administrator accounts, you will be owned by hackers.” It only takes a second to corrupt an entire infrastructure, if any of the computers are neglected. So, it is must for everyone to keep themselves updated about all the software installed on their system. If these things are kept in mind, then we can secure our personal information from hackers.
