The Truth:
This email is not true. It’s
not clear whether it’s an intentional hoax or was sent by someone who
became alarmed by a received email and decided to send out a warning
about it. The bottom line is that merely receiving an email from
someone doesn’t guarantee that the person is a hacker and unless there
was something in the email that you were asked to do such as open an
attachment or go to a web site, there isn’t much danger that anything
bad will happen.
As a general safety
precaution when chatting or emailing with strangers it is only
common sense to apply some of the following rules:
Never divulge personal
information.
Don't give anyone your
passwords or log in information to any accounts.
Unless you have
initiated a technical support call to a trusted person or site, never
allow anyone access to your computer with programs such as Remote
Desktop Connection.
When chatting online
with strangers, never give out your home address, phone number or
personal information. You can generalize without giving
personal information away. If the other chatter seems to insist on
your personal information change the topic or disengaged the chat.
If you allow your
children to use the internet, always monitor them and set up healthy guidelines.
Some of the newer
operating systems by Microsoft update your computer automatically.
If you have this feature disabled make sure you are current with
important updates.
As always, when
operating a computer on the internet make sure that your virus
protection software is activated and up to date.
updated 04/30/09
