Are you aware that this month is Security Awareness Month?! Well it is! How secure do you think you are with your passwords and personal information? In the following article we will talk about keeping your personal information safe from hackers, or bad people who steal personal information and open pornography accounts with your credit card.

Do you know what phishing is? Courtesy of Webster’s Dictionary phishing is “to request confidential information over the Internet under false pretenses in order to fraudulently obtain credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal data.” Phishing e-mail messages take a number of forms:

They might appear to come from your bank or financial institution, a company you regularly do business with, such as Microsoft, or from your social networking site.

They might appear to be from someone you know. Spear phishing is a targeted form of phishing in which an e-mail message might look like it comes from your employer, or from a colleague who might send an e-mail message to everyone in the company, such as the head of human resources or IT.

They might include official-looking logos and other identifying information taken directly from legitimate Web sites, and they might include convincing details about your personal information that scammers found on your social networking pages.

They might include links to spoofed Web sites where you are asked to enter personal information.

Websites like this are designed to trick the user and get them to send personal information to a fraudulent website.

They can ask for your password, account information, or any other personal information. This can lead to them having enough information to open up credit cards, empty your bank account, or even start an Ebay account under your name to make you liable for their actions.

This is several reasons why you should change your password regularly, and include capital letters, original word or phrase, and symbols.

All in all be smart with your personal information online, PROTECT OR INFECT!