Criminal hackers target children

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September 25th, 2009 - Posted by Robert Siciliano

Robert Siciliano is a NextAdvisor.com Expert Guest Blogger

I'm particularly irate about this. There are criminal hackers, and then there are the scumbags that target children. Last week, hackers infiltrated PBS's "Curious George" page. Visitors were sent to a fake authentication page, and when they attempted to log in they were served with an error page containing hidden JavaScript which then loaded malware that attempted to exploit vulnerabilities in Adobe Acrobat Reader, AOL Radio AmpX and SuperBuddy and Apple QuickTime. Computers that lacked the latest security patches were infected with viruses.

So imagine that you're in your kitchen, maybe baking a cake. Every so often, you glance over in amazement at your three year old, who can't color inside the lines or spell or count higher than twenty or even tie her own shoes yet, but she can navigate through the various games at PBSKids.com. Little do you know that some hacker is attempting to take advantage of your child's playtime in order to access to your data. Is there no shame? Boundaries? Apparently not. It is not immediately evident how hackers compromised the site. They may have taken advantage of a known flaw and exploited an SQL injection vulnerability.

Lax security practices by consumers are giving scammers a base from which to launch attacks. In the first five months of 2008, IBM Internet Security Systems blocked 5000 SQL injections every day. By June, the number spiked to 25,000 a day. By October there were over 450,000 attacks a day.

To prevent your computer from becoming a zombie, keep your operating system, browser, media player, and all your software updated, and be sure to install and update Internet security software. To prevent identity theft, you might consider getting yourself a credit freeze, or setting up your own fraud alerts, or investing in an identity theft protection service.

Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses criminal hackers on Fox News.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKoI07bj_H8[/youtube]

Robert Siciliano is CEO of IDTheftSecurity.com , an identity theft expert, professional speaker, security analyst, published author and television news correspondent. Siciliano works with Fortune 1000 companies and startups as an advisor on product launches, branding, messaging, representation, SEO and media. Siciliano's thoughts and advice on all these matters appear often in both the televised and print news media including CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX, Forbes and USA Today. He has 25 years of security training as a member of the American Society of Industrial Security. He is the author of two books, including The Safety Minute: Living on High Alert; How to take control of your personal security and prevent fraud. He's also partnered with Uni-Ball to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and to provide tips on how you can protect yourself.