Heartbreak Sunday After 9-11

IDENTITY THEFT IS “COSTLIER” THAN YOU THINK
By SAM DI BERNARDO

When I was a college undergrad a literature professor returned my term paper with a comment “you write like Gertrude Stein!” My first thought was “wow, what a compliment” until I realized that what he really meant was that he couldn’t read my mind. That one comment has had a tremendous impact on my writing ever since. That being said, I want to return to the way I ended my first story—I want to return to my computer lab at St. Demetrius H.S. I told you how the FBI arrested one of my students for hacking into the computers at the Pentagon and I mentioned my favorite student ,George, who I allowed to place a “spyware” program on my computer. George, in my opinion was a “wonderkid” a true computer genius—smarter (and more honest) by far than the kid the FBI arrested, fer sure.

If you wanted to know anything about computers you could ask George. Frankly, he was better with computers than I but not foxier! After I had George demonstrate how he could reveal secret passwords I told him to delete demo program—he did and left the lab forgetting to “empty the trash.” I wonder how many of you caught the significance of that statement—I left it hanging like a pregnant thought. Why, because I wanted that program and I didn’t want the kid to know that I got it; I went to the “recycle bin” restored the program and saved it to a disk. To me that little program demonstrated the skill and stealth of those who wish to steal and act maliciously and I wanted to know how to protect myself and others. Identity thieves, my friends, are a crafty lot!!!

I told you about how dangerous that program could be to the unsuspecting computer user. But, beware computer user, there are predators ready to pounce on you. They have Spyware, Trojans, Worms and a zillion Viruses ready to attack and there are so many computer scams that they are impossible to list. Foreign countries are home to gangs of internet scammers who have become wealthy by preying on the unsuspecting American Public.

My advice is to protect yourself as best you can because “a fool and his gold are soon parted!” Do I even have to say: If something sounds too good to be true, avoid it like the plague!!!
Invest in the best anti-virus software on the market and install recommended “firewalls.” Use and change secret passwords often and take the advice of experts when available. Be especially careful with “wireless’ or WiFi—make sure you have all your safeguards in place and be careful where you use your connections whether in a coffee bar or in your own home; spies are everywhere and one could be sitting at the next table at a Starbuck & Dunkin and you would never know it! Check the Wifi connections available—if you can see them they can certainly see you. They have the ability to see your screen as easily as you do at your PC and your computer can even be used remotely as two thieves found out recently when they stole a laptop and the owner photographed them and had them identified and arrested.

I like to turn my computers off completely when not in use and I also unplug my modem. I use dial-up—slow but the safest. Hackers are not about to bother with dial-up because of the frequent IP (Internet Provider) Address change. Read up on all security issues; even the security features on your computer.

I really don’t mean to scare you but, just be careful and wise. Don’t open junk and unsolicited mail and certainly never click on an attachment unless you know and trust the sender. This last advice is the best I, or anyone can give. Viruses are so insidious they can hide a line of vicious code in an innocent looking .jpg or picture file. Avoid that site that the devil wants you to visit--clicking it can lead you straight to computer HELL!

Some of the final things I want to write about in my column is about the carelessness used when you decide to get rid of your computer. You have to be careful there as well. It is said that “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” and incidentally it might be your treasure that you are throwing away.

Every Sunday, I go out into the neighborhood searching for discarded computers. All the Supers know me and will set aside all kinds of used computer equipment; it also saves them a fine for illegal dumping. One of my hobbies is to build, restore and repair computers. I have repaired, at my own expense, many computers and donated them to schools and worthy organizations and individuals (almost 30 so far).
What I have found in these computers is astonishing! People will throw out a computer without removing the data from the hard drive—my goodness, can you imagine that? I don’t need to say more but, I will.

One Sunday, right after the infamous September Eleventh destruction of the Twin Towers I found a computer in a badly damaged case. It appeared that it was thrown out of a window or terrace. The innards of the machine appeared to be OK but I decided to place all the “internal organs” in a new case before firing it up. It was simple just remove the motherboard and all the components—took me less than an hour.

When I turned on the computer a bad feeling came over me (I still get goose bumps thinking of it). The former owner was a young stock trader from one of the brokerage companies located in one of the towers. All his personal and financial information and accounts were on that computer—everything, SS number and all! I erased and reformatted that hard drive immediately! Something told me that he died that day on 9/11—it was as if he were telling me that. I just can’t put that feeling into words—it was sickening. I somehow thought that his loved ones saw that computer as an awful reminder of their loss; they lost their Son, their Heart, and became so angry they flung the horrible memory of that day away…

If I continue, I’m afraid I’ll cry so I’ll stop here.

Sam Di Bernardo,
Retired Computer Teacher

If you want to see and read more about identity theft or computer security drop a line or email to me at forlearning@hotmail.com