First of all, it should be noted that hacking into someone's personal profile is a breach of security and considered illegal. However, AirG finds itself susceptible to hijacking on many accounts namely because it is a social networking site based solely around mobile phones, and mobile phones themselves are usually easier to hijack or 'hack' than computers because they are equipped with less software and virus protection programs to combat malware when it is present in a system.
'Cookie stealing' is the most common method of hacking on AirG. A 'cookie' (or HTTP, web and browser cookie) is a piece of data which informs both an origin site and the user's browser about previous sessions, sending information between two so that certain activities such as online shopping can be done without the origin site 'forgetting' what the user has ordered when the origin site is refreshed or the user has clicked onto another page. Cookies themselves cannot carry viruses or malware but they include information about the user's browsing activities and so can carry passwords or personal details should the cookies be stolen by 'spyware'.
'Phishing' is another method employed by hackers in order to obtain personal information such as account details. The term comes from the literal word 'fishing' yet focuses more on the fact that fisherman use bait, which looks harmless to the fish (or the 'victim') yet turns out to be detrimental in the end. Similarly, phishing emails pose themselves as a harmless entity to a person, such as a bank manager or an old friend, in order to lure the user into revealing personal information. Such scams can result in a person losing their email address or even their bank accounts if they aren't careful. It is estimated that US business can lose up to 2 billion pounds in damages caused by phishing scams each year.
Both examples of hijacking and scamming, in some cases, are ubiquitous and found exploiting many people around the world yet more and more today despite the advances in technology in the past decade. Link manipulation can also be applied to deceive someone into clicking what looks like a genuine URL when in fact the name of the URL is there to disguise the site it leads to. Despite such cases sounding easy, there are ways of preventing such actions from taking place and many who practice such acts can find themselves hit with a big fine and a prison sentence if they're not careful.
'Cookie stealing' is the most common method of hacking on AirG. A 'cookie' (or HTTP, web and browser cookie) is a piece of data which informs both an origin site and the user's browser about previous sessions, sending information between two so that certain activities such as online shopping can be done without the origin site 'forgetting' what the user has ordered when the origin site is refreshed or the user has clicked onto another page. Cookies themselves cannot carry viruses or malware but they include information about the user's browsing activities and so can carry passwords or personal details should the cookies be stolen by 'spyware'.
'Phishing' is another method employed by hackers in order to obtain personal information such as account details. The term comes from the literal word 'fishing' yet focuses more on the fact that fisherman use bait, which looks harmless to the fish (or the 'victim') yet turns out to be detrimental in the end. Similarly, phishing emails pose themselves as a harmless entity to a person, such as a bank manager or an old friend, in order to lure the user into revealing personal information. Such scams can result in a person losing their email address or even their bank accounts if they aren't careful. It is estimated that US business can lose up to 2 billion pounds in damages caused by phishing scams each year.
Both examples of hijacking and scamming, in some cases, are ubiquitous and found exploiting many people around the world yet more and more today despite the advances in technology in the past decade. Link manipulation can also be applied to deceive someone into clicking what looks like a genuine URL when in fact the name of the URL is there to disguise the site it leads to. Despite such cases sounding easy, there are ways of preventing such actions from taking place and many who practice such acts can find themselves hit with a big fine and a prison sentence if they're not careful.
