Cybercriminals on the prowl in social media

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Social-MediaIt’s one thing to keep your pocketbook secure when you’re out and about, but the truth is you’re not safe in cyberspace. This is especially so for anyone who give out personal information while online, with identity theft being a major risk. A growing culture of giving out intimate details over the Internet is evident among young people, according to the Better Business Bureau (BBB).


Security experts say cybercriminals take advantage of open Wi-Fi networks.

Peter Moorhouse, president of the BBB in Atlantic Canada, says his group is noticing that more young people are falling victim to this kind of fraud.

“When you think about the questions that we use to protect our passwords and banking information, a lot of that stuff we’re putting out on social media without even thinking about it,” he said.

Moorhouse says students’ clean credit rating make them ripe targets.

They also tend to take their devices everywhere, logging on to free Wi-Fi at the local coffee shop to check email.

Security consultant Andrew Kozma says it’s easy for people to harvest usernames and passwords in public places.

“What it comes down to is they trust the coffee shop service and I’m exploiting that trust by making my network highly available — more available than the legitimate coffee shop,” Kozma said.

“During that traversal, I capture that information and can use that data later.”

He says people can stay safe if they avoid looking at personal information on unfamiliar networks.