Protect yourself from being a virtual terror victim

VIRTUAL VICTIMS: It's almost impossible to track down a hacker for they cover their tracks by using fake identities.

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Suhasini Haidar

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New Delhi: Police traced Ahmedabad's terror email to Mumbai, but found that it was sent from a hacked email account. What's to prevent criminals from sending the next email from your account?

Arshdeep Lamba, a software expert CNN-IBN spoke to, says the same thing could happen to anyone.

"We use the Internet most of the day and we visit all kinds of websites — even some that are not trusted. They take our IP address, which is a computer's unique identification number. Hackers can take that IP address from the website and control our computer from a remote location," says Lamba.

Once breached, hackers can copy all the stored data. They can control the victim's bank account, duplicate documents and identities and send emails.

"If you are getting replies to emails that you have never sent, your email ID may have been hacked. You may also come to know through anti-virus software whether your PC has been hacked," says Lamba.

It's almost impossible to track down a hacker for they cover their tracks by using fake identities for the computers they use.

But does all this mean you're helpless?

Not quite, says Arshdeep.

"One should use a strong anti-virus, anti-spam and a firewall. One can even avoid going to websites that offer download and freeware. Do not open emails and attachments coming from unknown sources," he says.

So it's time you take these precautions or very soon, you could be the virtual victim of the terrorist's next attack.