Alice regularly used popular social networking sites, and she considered herself a careful user. However, one day she received a message at work from her friend Anthony with a link to view pictures from his recent vacation. Alice didn't recognize the linked website, but she wanted to see Anthony's photos, so she clicked the link. When a new page didn't open, Alice replied to Anthony saying his link was broken, but he never responded.
Several weeks later, Alice was called into her boss's office at work. Inside, her company's IT technician told her he had investigated an increase in the company's network traffic, and he had found that a hacker was receiving hourly reports of Alice's keyboard activity.
When Alice had clicked the link in Anthony's message, a type of malware called a keylogger had been installed on her company computer. Through the keylogger, the hacker learned Alice's logon to the company's network, which he used to access confidential information. Additionally, the hacker broke into Alice's social networking account and sent malicious messages to her friends, just like the message from Anthony.
Fortunately, Alice's company caught the hacker before any lasting damage occurred, but Alice almost lost her job. She changed all of her Internet account information, and she is now much more careful when using social networking sites. "I had thought that link was strange," Alice said. "I should have listened to my gut. Now I know scams can happen through social networking sites, too."
To learn more about keyloggers, see the Encyclopedia of Risks and Threats.
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