Web Exclusive: How to Protect Yourself and Your Family from Sex Offenders Online
Thursday, February 23, 2012 5:00AM
Jim is a former hacker who joined the show to talk to Anderson about how easy it is for hackers to access computers, webcams and more. Janice, a concerned mother, has questions about keeping her children safe online.
The best way to protect children from sex offenders online is to be wary of all content that your children are consuming and posting on the internet, especially on social media sites. Jim says to treat your child's Facebook friends just like their friends from school; when your child makes a new friend at school, you want to get to know them -- do the same on social networking.
Jim has more guidelines for keeping you and your family safe. Hear his tips in the video below.
Filed Under: Web Exclusives, As Seen On The Show
Comments
As Jim said in his video, the best way to protect yourself from a webcam hacker is to physically cover the webcam. I do this with a camJAMR from http://camJAMR.com. There are three different versions with a bunch of fun images to choose from. The reason I purchased a camJAMR instead of just using a piece of tape, is because tape can leave harmful residue on your camera lens. With a camJAMR you wont have to worry about this because the adhesive is made for a camera lens. Another reason to use a camJAMR is the fun images they have. Who wants to look at a eye sore like a piece of tape on your laptop all day when you can have one of the images available by camJAMR.com? Get your camJAMR today!!
Good shows, good questions, interesting mom, so lets gst our ideas out there to support Anderson so that when he needs a bus driver he can call me hehe..unusual jobs,,where the rich go/homes/habits/Show the poop trucks of Dubai,u tube guests,me hehe/the unusual craftsmen quick view,new stuff/space endevors
I wonder if you could go public and collect funds for a commercial free show, that woul be cool..visit the unusual homes
Variety in some shows 10 min 10min 10 min..the famous people are nice..far out towns, north, remote, cults but the good ones
Go where us cannot get in, ask voted for cool people who do cool stuff,sex offenders was a good one as to hear then speak is unusual so see of more of the stuff where others have no success
Please do a show about cell phone hacking. My daughter is being harassed and stalked by an ex. Anderson, thank you, thank you for doing shows on important subjects.
It would be helpful to be able to watch the whole show of past shows to be able to protect your family. Thanks
Thank you for the information on computer hacking. I am wondering if the same could be done with cell phones; particularly iPhones? About a month ago, my daughter's housemate in college was receiving texts that said they were from another housemate, but she wasn't sending them. After the text was opened, it immediately deleted. They realized that the texts were not coming from the actual housemate when a text was received responding to an immediate conversation the girls were having in thier house. Several texts followed and included comments in which you had to be present to have the information in the texts. Needless to say, action was taken and law enforcement got involved, but they said they've never run into this before. The texts have stopped, but nobody has ever been able to get to the bottom of this. The clip I saw on computer hacking hit hit close to home and immediately made me realize that it may be very possible to hack into a cell phone. I would really appreciate your feedback. Thank you
Hi, my name is Sharon, on Thursday Jim said after he sent that mom and email card, he could see whatever she was typing, i would like to know how i can stop that. thank you,
Ironically, this show aired the same day our local news carried this: the state of Ohio is looking at not requiring sex offenders sentenced before July 1997 to continue registering. Their reasoning is that a sexual offender will either repeat the behavior shortly after release or not at all. They feel 15 years is a good time line, based on what I don't know. Maybe this can be another show.....I REALLY ENJOY YOUR SHOW, YOUR TOPICS ARE WELL RESEARCHED AND CREATE CONVERSATION ABOUT TOPICS THAT MIGHT OTHERWISE GET BURIED. KEEP UP THE GREAT JOB! YOU SEEM TO ENJOY WHAT YOU DO.
Thanks for having Jim on your show. Please continue to give us information on how to protect our computers.I'm a senior with very little knowledge on how to secure my computer.I would appreciate any information you can send me.
What a great show Amderson and I applaud you for talking about the difficult topic. As an abuse survivor myself, I decided a few years ago to try to make a difference. I went to |Kidpower in California for training since I am a health care worker and saw a lot of abuse and trauma in my office. The question is always what to do about it? Well, at Kidpower.org they teach "People safety skills"we have fire safety and water safety and why not people safety in the schools and teach it early. |Like baby steps. Most people, myself included did not know boundry setting, and this includes saying no to teachers, parents, boyfriends ect. This is a learned behavior and comes with practice . I have been able to take these kidpower skills and teach other kids and parents what is appropriate with people skills, and boundry setting. Kidpower also teaches anti-bullying and anti-abuse strategies for staying safe. All of this is non for profit, and one of the best empowerment programs I know. The funding came out of my own pocket but the rewards have been enormous!
Thanks for listening and keep up the great show!
Linda Ambrose
Hello, I will take a crack at answering all questions that were asked up to this point.
-Does anti-virus catch these types of attacks? Unfortunately in many cases it wont. For example, the person we hacked on this show had anti-virus and the malicious software could still be loaded on it without a problem.
-How can I detect if someone has access to my computer? Unfortunately there is no simple answer. In some cases you will notice your computer begins to run slower or you might start seeing your web cam light turn on for no reason. In other cases you might find files on your desktop or in your documents directory that you didn't install. These are all warning signs. That said, in some cases you will see no warnings at all, that is why it is so important to keep your computer secure to begin with.
-How do I keep my computer secure so I don't fall victim? While there is no guarantees, there are some simple things you can do to reduce your risk. First, make sure you keep your computer up to date with security patches. Microsoft and Apple will both automatically try to update your computer with the latest patches when they become available for the operating system but you are responsible for other programs on your computer. For example, if you watch videos online, changes are you have Adobe Flash installed. Adobe has had numerous vulnerabilities through the years. It will pop up messages from time to time saying that new patches are available and you can choose to install them or decline. These are important patches and without them you are at risk. WARNING: If you are browsing on the internet, sometimes hackers will post pop up messages on your screen claiming to be security updates. If you install these you are actually installing viruses. The best way to know the difference is that real security updates will show up the minute your computer boots up and connects to the internet. Before you even open your web browser. Also, never install anything on your computer unless you are VERY certain you know what it is. In the show the woman was sent an e-card and when she tried to view it, it told her that her viewer was old and she needed to update. That update was what installed the malicious software on her computer. My best advice about installing something is when in doubt, ask someone that will know. Most people have a relative or friend that is up on this kind of stuff. Last, make sure you only open an attachment in an email if you were expecting it. Just because you receive an email from a friend, it does not mean that person actually sent it to you. They could have a virus and now their computer is sending that virus to everyone in their contacts list. If you receive any attachment, talk to the person who sent it before opening it.
As I said earlier, there are no guarantees and if a hacker is truly targeting you, there is a very good chance they will be successful in gaining access to your computer. Its unfortunate but true. The best you can do is be suspicious and question everything and if you have kids, keep the laptop out of the bedroom.
On a side note, hallmark e-cards are safe when they come from hallmark.com. If you receive an e-card, make sure the link goes there and if so, you can enjoy the dancing dog.
-Jim
Please give us more info on the webcam hacking- how common, how can we prevent, how can we check to see if we are infected etc etc...I am part of a large family whose girls are spread out through colleges across the country and of course they all have webcams and skype to keep in touch...
Yay Great seeing you on here! Thanks for the message!
Hello Mr. Jim I do not use the skyping or webcam, facebook,text,tweet or any of those can someone still gain access to my computer in my own apartment when I live alonge???? I do not open email If do not know the person. Thank You. Virginia
I clicked on a Hallmark Card a couple weeks ago and nothing loaded... If someone was able to access my Web Cam, how can I tell, and more importantly, how can I eliminate it? I have Norton Security Suite with regular updates... will that catch it and eliminate it? Thanks so much for your advice!
I love your show Anderson and I love seeing your Mom too. I watched your show about the computers and then listened to this expert on line. I've had a problem with my web cam coming on and he said to put masking tape over the web cam. What a great idea. Thank you so much.