Online investigations are something we look at fairly often here in the office. Most often, the cases we look at are cyber harassment investigations and cyber-bullying in nature. These case types of course have been well publicized of late, particularly in the sphere of cyber-bullying, with heart breaking examples such as Amanda Todd, Jamie Hubley and Rehtaeh Parsons. Other major problems include identity theft which is increasing in scope yearly and encompasses financial and non-financial aspects and various hacking methods (which here will be a catch all phrase for system breaches of all types).
While the threat source on all of these problems can vary from schoolyard punks to co-workers to ex-lovers to unknown offshore hackers, the facilitator of these problems usually rests at the feet of the victim themselves. While I hope this is not a surprise to many, it is an unfortunate truth that there are still many, many people who fall victim to a wide array of online problems daily.
The main source that people gain access to information which should not be in someone else's hands is that which is freely given. That is, naked pictures to lovers, inappropriate jokes to friends and dark secrets to associates or forums when in all cases people think the information will stay safe forever. Obviously, this is not the case and highlights the unfortunate realities that the vast majority of these cases could be stopped by just paying a bit more attention to what we give out to other people and educating youth who have not yet seen the really nasty side of society to withstand potential pit falls.
The other main source of information getting out into the wild which can then be used against us is again the fault of the victim in most cases by using poor passwords. One just has to do a look at the top 10 passwords in the world to discover that even in the year 2013, the most popular continue to include 1111, 1234, password and the user's own name. There are programs out there which scrape e-mail accounts and then attempt to access them by using the top bad passwords out there. Password sharing is also a great source for a bad guy or girl to get their hands on a user account, as people assume that someone they are dating will be around forever or a co-worker who needs a quick access to a system will never use it against the victim.
True hacking actually comprises a very small amount of breaches as it requires quite a bit of skill and resources to pull off, which makes your average victim an unlikely choice for attack by complex methods. Usually the info was just out there for a keen eye to grab and exploit.
As such, there are some basic ways to protect and educate yourself and your kids (and the elderly as well who may not be as tech savvy as some). First and foremost, outside of the online world, be aware of sensitive materials given out. No duh huh? It seems easy at a glance, but you would be shocked at the types of graphic materials handed out by kids in school....as young as 10 and younger. This does still apply to adults as well and really comes down to knowledge of the reach people now have and the anonymity people can enjoy when a relationship falls apart to broadcast material given in confidence to a large and damaging audience. Next is passwords. Make them long, unique and use symbols to create something, not just the easiest thing to enter into the keyboard. Next, if you give out your password to anyone, change all linked accounts or those sharing similar or same passwords. People are lazy by nature and tend to use the same password or password family for multiple sites, a fact which is exploited by people looking to exploit you. Remove cloud storage access permissions if you suspect a breach of your files, as people may use access to one system to maintain access through a backdoor in another. Use up to date and well reviewed antivirus software. Even free antivirus can keep you secure from most threats as long as it is up to date and turned on to medium levels. The same goes for operating system software like Windows and Apple OS, which deliver periodic updates to patch known vulnerabilities. Finally, ensure you watch what you click, as the majority of spyware and system viruses are still delivered through e-mail where a person needs to click on a suspicious link to unknowingly download a virus.
Should you find yourself with information which has been leaked onto the net and is being used against you, contact local police. If the nature of the harassment is of imminent danger, they will be able to initiate an investigation. If it is of less immediate danger, they will open the file regardless, but outside resources will be requires to launch the investigation. Contact a Private Investigator if this level of investigation is needed. They will have experience tracking down the perpetrator, or at least locating the instances of harm being broadcast on the net to help shut them down. By and large, these investigations are classed as domestic investigations which require the investigator to have access to often embarrassing details before beginning. Ensure to interview your investigator in order to ensure you have an appropriate comfort level before intiating service. Visit us at www.elementalpi.ca if you would like more information, or visit the RCMP Internet Security site at http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/qc/pub/cybercrime/cybercrime-eng.htm
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