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Princeton woman loses control of computer to hacker

RCMP warn residents of unsafe emails
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A Princeton home business owner was the victim of a clever computer hacker this week.

And RCMP are warning residents to take care when opening emails or attachments.

According to Corporal Chad Parsons a local woman called police when she realized someone was accessing her computer remotely.

“She lost total control of her computer.”

The computer screen first went black and when the owner booted up her machine someone else was inside it, he said.

“The mouse was moving around and clicking into different things on her computer.”

The woman is now checking her bank accounts to ensure there are no unauthorized transactions.

Parsons said this kind of complaint is rare. “This is actually something I haven’t seen personally.”

He said it’s possible the hacker gained access to the computer after the owner opened an unsafe email.

“Be careful of the emails that you open and make sure you know where they are coming from…If you open an attachment, be cautious.”

Computer operators should have their privacy settings at the most stringent levels, and wifi and web accounts should be secured with passwords, he added.

Parsons also recommended computer owners update and monitor their virus scanning software.



Andrea DeMeer

About the Author: Andrea DeMeer

Andrea is the publisher of the Similkameen Spotlight.
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