Hacking efforts and widespread computer viruses are continuing to expand both locally and internationally for a variety of reasons, including hackers illegally cracking into private computer systems to corrupt or steal valuable personal information, according to authorities. Houston County’s website was down for about a week after it was hacked on Feb. 21 and indecent content was posted.
Incidents in which other government websites and those of private companies have surfaced over the last few years as well. In January, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported an Atlanta man was sentenced to a year and a month in prison after he hacked into a protected computer of a competing medical practice in order to gain the personal information of patients for marketing reasons.
Last month, a Hungarian man charged in the U.S. with the hacking of Marriott International Corp. computers in order to extort employment was sentenced to 30 months in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
McArdle said several hacking attempts and viruses can corrupt Microsoft operating systems as well as the Android system for cell phones. Several indicators, such as slow-moving computer programs or the inability to access files, could show a computer has been hacked, he said.
McArdle said hacking often takes place after a person has clicked on fraudulent advertisements or attachments in an email, which can grant access to a hacker.
“The bottom line is that if a real hacker wants to get in, they’re getting in. Personally I don’t believe any website is 100-percent hacker proof. On a bigger scale with corporate intranets, you have an internet use policy that an employee violates and clicks on a link and opens the computers up to a hacker,” McArdle said between repairing computers.
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