Hijack High Jinks - What This Means For Web Surfers
December 1st, 2008

A despicable new thing out there on the net today is hijacking. It is a trend that is becoming all too common among Internet browsers. Hijackers are forcing web users to malicious sites and downloading software in their computers. This software can cause the users search pages and home page to be not of their choosing. There can also be Internet short cuts added to your favorites list. This allows the hijacker to be in control of what sites you will frequent. He can force your computer to generate him money by making you go to advertising sites. One would think it is just as easy as going into your browser settings and changing them back. It isn't as easy as you think. There are a slue of files in your registry and through out your hard drive that reconfigure your machine every time you re-start. The software can even prompt you to restart and make you think it is a good thing. Once on your machine they can be a very difficult task to get off.

There are even some hijacking tools that will remove your Internet options from your tools menu. This allows the hijacker to have full control over your machine and you to have none. Even companies such as AOL can be a hijacker. They put their own site into your trusted sites and favorites once you have installed the disk. Then they download ActiveX components onto your computer with out asking permission. Other programs like AIM (AOL Instant Messenger), Netscape 6, and ICQ also have been know to do the same thing. The CWS trojan acts the same way. It forces your computer to go to specific sites to generate money per click for the hacker. All the sites are affiliated with coolwebsearch.com who pays these hijackers for each visitor they generate. The CWS hijacks Internet explorer and creates pop-up windows for the hijackers site. The start and setting option are changed to an unreadable mass of symbols and numbers. This hides the domain name from the user and made blacklisting very hard. Internet explorer actually translates the symbols and loads the hacker's site.

Other hijacking tools are even worse. They can decipher every click of the keyboard and tell the hacker what you are typing. These keyloggers allow people to get your personal information including user names and passwords and even credit card numbers. Once they have all your information they can cause a great deal of harm. There is the risk of identity theft and fraud if these people get a hold of all your personal information. Usually the user gets infected by searching through a website that downloads the software into your computer with out you knowing. Every time you type it is recorded and sent to the hacker for translation. This will include and off and online typing you do. It is also includes e-mails and personal messages. Nothing is private after the hijacker has taken over. The dangers of surfing the net unprotected is no worth it today. One must invest in their computer's safety. Many people don't realize what they even have on their machines.

The best action of defense is a good anti-virus program. Make sure this software also protects you from spyware and hackers. Most anti-virus software has firewalls as well to protect from intruders. Make sure your updates are set on automatic and daily so you are constantly being protected appropriately. Your computer security system is the most important investment you can make to ensure this type of software never gets on your machine. Many programs now actually block these malicious download and blocks all unwanted connections before they get into you computer. Make sure to run your anti-virus and anti-spyware once a day to catch anything you might have accidentally come with a downloaded program. Sometimes you will get malicious files from sites you least expect and they were not caught while the download was in process. Never download anything that requires you to lower your protection or disengage your firewall. This is a sure fire sign that something is wrong and the file is corrupted or infected. If you are going to browse the net have security to save you from all the Internet hijackers out there

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