Technology is a great thing. Improvements in processing power have done phenomenal duties allowing the human race to move forward to making everything bigger, better, faster, safer, and all of the things in between. But along with that power, some bad people utilize computer technology, in particular, to do nasty things to people.
Bad actors in the technology world can hit unprepared computer users on many levels. They can figure out how to put malware on your computer. They can create viruses that infect your computer systems. They can set up shady downloads that make you think they’re legitimate but then steal information from your system. And criminals in the computer world are the primary culprits that create problems with identity theft.
Malware
If you never noticed your computer slowing down at strange times, it may be that you’ve gotten malware on your system. Even with all the best protection in the world, there are pieces of code that can get inside your desktop or laptop and gum up all of the efficient processes that are supposed to be working. Malware programs exist for many different reasons, but the bottom line is that you don’t want any of them floating around inside your registry, which means you should take every step possible to prevent them in the first place, and then remove them if you do come up with some.
Viruses
There is also the matter of viruses. When you read updates about the latest viruses, you can see that they can do some extreme damage to people on personal computers, and they can be even more damaging on a business or corporate level. If you use virus protection, you’re safe for the most part, but hackers and crackers are always finding new ways to put viruses into the mainstream, and then you only hear about them in the news once they become a significant problem.
Shady Downloads
If you’ve ever done general browsing on the Internet, you see all sorts of pop-ups, flyovers, and advertisements for everything imaginable. A lot of these are legitimate advertisements for companies trying to get your attention. But other things that you click on can end up with you downloading programs that you don’t want. They aren’t necessarily malware or viruses, but they are applications that can create issues or change the default settings on your browsers.
Identity Theft
Viruses, malware, and unintentional downloads can all combine to give people tools to steal your identity. Once programs are on your computer, they can log your keystrokes, they can look through your email lists, and they can do many other processes associated with stealing your personal and private information. If you’ve ever been a victim of identity theft, chances are very likely that some of the information came through security breaches on your computer.