Twitter accounts are compromised by virus

Security has become a big issue with Twitter as hackers gain access to accounts on a frequent basis. Billy Ray Cyrus had his account hacked recently.

My account was hacked by a virus from a friend last night. I knew something was fishy when he sent me a Twitter message saying he had won money on a link.

I private emailed him and he confirmed it this morning.

In the meantime, Twitter sent me a warning to change my password. Of course, never click on a link telling you to change your password. That is a standard Phishing ploy. Go to your browser and login into the site normally.

Your identity has just been stolen

A friend said she didn’t care if her password was stolen. “I have no money in my bank account, ha!”

Taking money from your bank or credit card is the least of your worries if someone gets your password. With your password, they can enter social networking sites like Twitter or Facebook and gather personal information like date of birth, address and email address.

With that little bit of information, thieves can impersonate you and setup a credit card or borrow money. They might be able to get a driver’s license.

Your identity has just been stolen. There are numerous documented stories of people driven to financial ruin and family breakdown from identity theft. If you end up with a large debt from identity theft, there are few ways to escape repayment. Your credit can be ruined.

Police officials estimate identity theft and other cyber crimes are bigger than the drug trade.

The key is – never use the same password everywhere. Use different passwords for each site you log into and change them frequently. Browsers like IE and Firefox will remember them for you.

All you need to do is keep a list -written on paper and locked away or perhaps in a protected document on your computer.

Do not assume it won’t happen to you. My password has been stolen several times this year.

It will happen to everyone since thieves have automated the process with bots. Microsoft, Gmail and Yahoo lost 10’s of thousands this month.