Q: My question is about my WD MyPassport external hard drive. It crashed while under warranty and I was mailed a replacement. I will not be billed as long as I send them my old one. Is that safe to do considering all the data and personal information on that disk? It would cost at least $300 to have one of their recommended sources remove files from it. — Art Winman
A: My guess is that you'd be safe just sending the old disk in and not worrying about the data. Even so most would be concerned. There are free programs that offer to wipe the disk clean rather than just deleting the files. I'll paste in a link to a Microsoft web page that explains in detail: www.microsoft.com/security/online-privacy/safely-dispose-computers-and-devices.aspx. I suggest reading the whole thing before starting. Then you'll see that it recommends two free programs for the disk wiping. Either would be fine.
The possible hitch is the big one.
If the disk isn’t working at all then these programs probably won’t be able to access the disk. And since you said it crashed, I have to make that assumption. In that case, I’d send the disk in as is and get the new one. After all, someone at that company would not only have to be a crook who wants to steal your information and then need to repair the disk so that they could steal what’s on it. Could all that happen? Sure. But I’d bet against it and would feel comfortable sending the disk in. I can’t tell you I’m right. I can only just do what I’ve just done, tell you how I see things. I can easily understand, depending on the nature of the information, why some would rather bite the bullet and just buy a new disk without sending in the old one.
When it comes to messing with computers, things have never been better. Online speeds keep getting faster; computers keep getting cheaper; and the Web has become an indispensible library of knowledge and the world’s best shopping mall.
On the other hand, things have never been worse. Turning on your computer is like walking around with a “kick me” sign taped to your back. You face an endless parade of scams, viruses, malware so new that it doesn’t have a name and a crop of computer crooks that make the hackers of yesterday seem like the amateurs that they were. Even smart and knowledgeable people can easily get caught in this slimy web.
And just to cheer you up a bit, I have this news. No matter how bad things seem now, they’re going to get much worse. Now that computers are as common as TVs, a lot of our dollars flow through that pipe we call the Internet. And — as it always has — large sums of money attract crooks. The value of the target has increased and, in response, the skill level of the crooks has grown.
For the most part we aren't talking about new threats. Instead we are talking about professional crooks who have the professional training and the financial backing to do the wrong things right. This article is worth reading: money.cnn.com/2015/04/14/technology/security/cyber-attack-hacks-security/
You’ll see that the number of threats is growing incredibly fast. But you’ll also see that many of the threats are old ones. It’s just a case of hackers doing a better job and, to a degree, a case of the good guys falling down on their job when it comes to fixing these threats. Let’s look at some familiar scams.
Spam: It was once just an annoyance. Those pesky and unwanted emails often offered shoddy products and promoted questionable websites. The emails that tried to steer you to phony websites were fairly crude in the old days. Misspelled words and crazy grammar made the fake mail easy to spot. Nowadays both the email and the fake websites are more polished.
And I’ve seen more reports lately of another old scam. That’s when hackers capture a perfectly innocent computer and turn it into a high-tech zombie. Once captured, the hacker can use that remote computer to send out spam. By using that zombie computer the hacker gets two advantages. The extra computers let him send out higher volumes of mail and the fact that they are remote computers mean it is more difficult for the authorities to find him.
Solution: We can and should use the firewall built into Windows, and making sure your anti-malware software is sound and up-to-date. But the real protection here comes from your awareness that, more than ever, the crooks are working hard and smart to take your money.
Telephone crooks: Trouble is calling more frequently these days. Seldom does a month pass without receiving a call from a computer criminal pretending to work for Microsoft or some other legitimate company. Two things are going on here. Some of these fast-talking computer crooks simply want to sell you some useless service to protect your computer. They tell you that your computer has problems and they offer to fix things for a high price. I hate to tell you this, but those are the nice guys. The really evil ones also claim you have computer problems but they take things a step beyond. They offer to take control of your computer — with your help — so that they can fix the nonexistent problem. Once you allow them to do this they have the same access you do to everything stored on your computer.
Solution: Just hang up. Don't argue, don't debate, simply hang up.
Now that I’ve delivered the bad news, let me tell you the really bad news. I see no end in sight. There’s just too much money at stake to hope that these threats will lessen. Instead they’ll get worse.
As I type all this another fear grows. We’ve talked today about threats that are many years old that are being perfected not invented. The worst threats of the next year or so will be ones that the technology experts haven’t discovered yet. We’ll find out about those problems the hard way.
Do what you can to make sure that your computer is safe. But once you have done that then do everything you can to make sure that you are careful and suspicious. Now is a time when being a little paranoid is OK. After all, they really are out to get you.
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