How can child pornography infect your computer

Every year about this time David Keller, a.k.a. Compu-Doctor, e-mails me a reminder to mention in a Good Boot it’s the season to beware of the grinches offering computer viruses, spyware, malware and phishing disguised as cyberspace goodies e.g., Internet free stuff downloads, help with a virus and virus infected e-mailed funny stuff from friends.

Although this year I thanked him for his reminder, in my e-mail reply I expressed disbelieve
that there could be anyone left in Southwest Florida unaware of how grinches can infect their computers.

David responded back with... then why is it that disinfecting computers continues to be one of my most significant sources of income? And why during the holiday season does my computer disinfecting business peak?

The obvious reason is that in fact not every Southwest Florida user is aware of how grinches infect their computers and even those who are can become so distracted by holiday activities, they let their guard down.

Now if at this point in my Good Boot you’re pooh poohing the idea that you could become a victim of the infamous grinches and are ready to accuse me of creating unwarranted paranoia, mull on this for a moment.

There’s a new malware that can be best described as functioning like the software program Napster created during the 1990's that allowed mp3 files to be shared among multiple computers. Users could access and download music stored on multiple computers.

Although this emerging new malware uses the same principle for file sharing as did Napster, it’s purpose is insidious and goes far beyond just placing a computer’s system in harms way. It can actually place a user in harms way.

It functions like this. A user is phished to a fake Web site via an e-mail link, duped into downloading a free program or asked to respond to an Internet pop up alert claiming their computer may have a virus.

When the user becomes involved in any one of these activities a program is surreptitiously installed on their computer. Once installed child pornography is download onto the victims computer. The folder containing the child pornography is well hidden on the unsuspecting user’s computer but is available to be shared by other child pornographers.

Sound scarey! It is! A computer can become a safe harbor for child pornography available to any pervert who knows the location of the computer on which the malware program is installed. And the owner of the host computer will not be aware of the downloaded child pornography nor the activity when a pervert accesses it.
And think about this! You can become an unsuspecting co conspirator, legally responsible for the child pornography on your computer should it be traced to you.

For additional information on this new cyberspace conspiracy contact David Keller at compudoc@cyberstreet.com and/or go to his web site at www.compu-doctor.com for his Prescriptions for Healthy Computing.

Here’s wishing you a Good Boot.