This talk was an introduction to computer crime to the Champaign County Seniors' Police Academy given on May 30, 2013 at ILEAS.

1. John Bambenek
Bambenek Consulting

2.  14 years experience in computer security
 Work as a digital forensic
examiner, investigator and researcher
 Usually do fraud cases but some other work
too
 Live here in Champaign with my family

3.  Vandalism (Hacktivism)
 Fraud (Various ways to steal money)
 Espionage (Stealing information)
 Sabotage (Destruction, disgruntled employee)
 National Security threats

4.  On the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog.
 It is really hard to be sure you are talking to
who you are thinking you are talking to on
email.
 It is easy to “pretend” to be someone else.

5.  Impersonation for fraud:
◦ Common for Facebook / Twitter / Email
◦ “Help, I’m stuck in the UK, can you wire me some
money?”
◦ “Someone is saying some real bad stuff about you, click
this link XX?”
◦ “I’m from helpdesk, use this to reset your password”
◦ Videos (Go to actual news sites or YouTube instead)

6.  How do you know the website you are at is
really legitimate?
◦ Charity fraud
 Link may “say” it is going to a legitimate
site, but may not be
 Google searches are not as reliable as you
think

7.  Don’t put confidential information in an
email.
 Verify information offline.
 Use bookmarks to go to commonly used sites
for shopping / banking
 Look for odd misspellings, e-mail addresses
from overseas (.eu, .ru, etc)

8.  We need passwords for everything and it is
impossible to remember them all.
 Passwords are not terribly difficult to steal.
 The more a password looks like a real
word, the easier it is to crack.
 People tend to use the same password for
everything.

9.  The longer a password is, the harder it is to
break.
 Try to use a “throwaway” password for
unimportant sites (i.e. ChicagoBears1995)
 For banking/financial sites, ask for two-
factor authentication (send text message to
your phone)

10.  Your computer is the best resource a criminal
can get. If they get that, they get everything,
all passwords, your e-mails, etc.
 People are constantly attacking.
 The are vulnerabilities being found in the
software you use every day.

11.  Always keep your computer up-to-date with
Microsoft Update
 Update your applications too, many will pop
up warnings telling you to update. (But be
careful)
 Use anti-virus software, it costs money but
it’s worth it to prevent headaches later
◦ Examples: McAfee, Norton

12.  Avoid clicking on pop-ups from websites.
 Avoid clicking on links in e-mails (attackers
love this one)
 Downloading pirated movies are often
infected
 Children’s game sites are often infected (stick
with known names, Disney, Nick, etc)

13.  People tend to think of the Internet as
anonymous (it’s not)
 This can lead to people using it as a means to
harassment (sometimes just for harassment’s
sake)
 Worst thing you can do is feed it by
responding, use ignore/block liberally

14.  2.4 million cards were stolen
 Mostly people “cloned” the cards and started
shopping
 Nothing consumers could have done to
prevent it

15.  Check bank account statements and credit
card statements frequently
◦ The sooner your report a problem, the more likely
your bank will give you money back and get you a
new card
 Check credit reports for new items you don’t
recognize
 Report crime to ic3.gov and/or local law
enforcement