When my elderly neighbor was outside the other day I stopped to see how things were going.
She was really quite so I could tell that something was wrong.
After a few minutes she confided in me that her computer had been hacked and she wasn’t sure how that had happened. I asked her a few questions about the activity on her machine and she said that all she ever did was pay a few bills, shop, and play a couple of simple games. I wasn’t sure why any of that would make her a target online. Then she said that she had gotten a call from her computer company asking her about the same thing. She had given them some of her personal information and let them log onto her computer remotely. I then understood what had happened. I told her that the person who called had been phishing and she had given them all that they needed to take over her computer. Computer hackers are really good at what they do. Then can manipulate your screen so that it looks like you are on a legitimate site when you are really on theirs. Once she bought a new computer I showed her how to sign on safely and to only trust search engines that are reputable. I even showed her how to check the listings on the search engines and make sure she was on a secure site. Most companies that pay for the position on the big search engines are quality companies. She said that she still didn’t understand why people who like to “fish” would be interested in her boring life. I had to chuckle because it was just too much to try and explain the difference to her.