Recently there have been several data breaches across the world which have resulted in millions of accounts being hacked. Most notably Facebook admitted to 50 million accounts hacked with a further 40 million suspected as being hacked.
Since then many people have been receiving spam emails which are very convincing. They say that they have hacked your computer and have been watching and recording you accessing adult material. They say that if you don’t pay a ransom amount then they will send the footage captured to members in your contact list they say they have also captured.
To make this more convincing, they quote a password in the email that is or has been used by you on other sites. It’s thought that this password has been acquired as a result of data breaches that have taken place before.
The important thing to do is NEVER PAY THE RANSOM. There is no evidence that your system is compromised and by paying there is a large possibility that your email account will placed on a ‘suckers’ list that will just bring forth more scams as you are more likely to pay.
The bottom line is change your password regularly, don’t use the same password across multiple accounts or websites and always make sure you have up to date good quality internet security on your computer.
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