Cyber attacks target home users
TEXT OF STORY
SCOTT JAGOW: A few years ago, we also had some nasty computer viruses. Remember Melissa? Or how about the Love Bug? They caused more than $10 billion in damage. But we haven’t had anything on that scale in a while. Marketplace’s Dan Grech explains why.
DAN GRECH: The Melissa worm hit in 1999 and propagated using Microsoft Word. The Love Bug bit inboxes in 2000 with the sweet subject line, “I LOVE YOU.”
Those computer viruses took down half of corporate America.
Bob Sullivan is author of “Your Evil Twin: Behind the Identity Theft Epidemic.” He says hackers are definitely still out there, it’s just their target has changed.
BOB SULLIVAN:“I don’t think it’s so much that the bad guys aren’t bothering to attack corporations, it’s just that they’re not getting the foothold there anymore. So these random attacks on everybody tend to infect and affect consumers much more.”
A recent study by Symantec, the maker of Norton Antivirus, found home users now account for 86 percent of all Internet attacks.
I’m Dan Grech for Marketplace.
Stories You Might Like
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
