Cyber criminals use Harry Potter to cause identity theft.

Xpress News out of Dubai published an article describing how the love of Harry Potter may cause identity theft.

Since you may have missed it or maybe you don't read news out of Dubai, I thought I'd bring it to your attention now.

It appears that cyber criminals are targeting children and other Harry Potter lovers into downloading spyware onto their computers via Harry Potter screensavers and other free downloads.

The downloads contain spyware, viruses and trojans. Once on a PC, this malware attempts to capture personal and financial data which is later used for fraud and identity theft.

In a related Harry Potter scam, an email was circulating that had promised free premiere tickets for the recent movie opening. But instead of tickets, a response to the email got you a trojan (a trojan is a program or file that appears to be useful or harmless but has another, malicious intent).

So how do we protect ourselves from this kind of thing? First and foremost, make sure you have a reliable and updated firewall, antivirus and antispyware software package installed on your computer. For my recommendations, please visit the Computer Identity Theft section of ITPME's Internet Threats page.

Then teach your kids about the various (and never ending) internet dangers and scams. Keep the family computer in a common location and try to monitor your child's computer use and habits. And be sure to let them know of your expectations just as you would about such things as dealing with strangers, the type of friends they choose, and other concerns found in the real world. For more on kids and the virtual world, please visit ITPME's Online Security & Kids page.

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