For the grizzled internet veterans out there, details on the seedy underworld of cyber-crime is nothing new. For the rest of us, let me present some of the sordid details. Have you wondered why you get so much spam and who is responsible for it? Surely it is just the equivalent of junk mail in our home mail box right?

Understanding there are Risks

Sadly enough, in many cases no. Spam, phishing emails, and spyware are just the tip of the iceberg for the many tools that cyber-criminals use these days to steal millions of dollars every year from every day people like us. How real is this threat? Consider this account and the level of detail that the criminal had to have to pull this off

It was July 2004 and Brian Campbell had been on Isla Mujeres off the coast of Cancun for three days for a relative’s wedding when he discovered he’d been scammed.

An American MBA student studying in Australia at the time, Campbell (not his real name) was accustomed to checking his investment portfolio daily over the internet. But the wedding distracted him a couple of days, and when he finally got online, he found he was locked out of his Schwab trading account.

He called Schwab and discovered that his user name and password had been changed. What’s more, $106,000 had recently been wired from his account to a Fortis bank account in Belgium. Campbell hadn’t requested the transfer.

Unknown to Campbell, a cyber thief who went by the nick “desertmack” had gained access to his e-mail account and had been watching him for weeks. The Mexico wedding was the break desertmack needed. He’d been hoping a little tequila and sunshine would distract Campbell from obsessively checking his brokerage account long enough to steal the money and send it to Brussels, where an accomplice would withdraw it.

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John reminded me of a video I saw a long time ago of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs on stage together doing a funny sketch back in 1983. The clip was recently played during D5 when they were once again on stage for a more serious discussion. In it, Jobs plays host of the Mac Dating game and has 3 developers (including Gates) talking about why they are the best choice for the Mac platform. They all exude that powerful 1983 fashion style that I am sure will hit the Paris fashion shows next year.

Enjoy