Gaithersburg, November 2014 -

Cyber crime and social media are nothing new to the Internet landscape but it looks like the contagious virus has now spread to YouTube and its counterparts. Many felt that YouTube was a safe haven to just relax and watch your favorite video or even study a lesson or two - but the enemy is now upon us. The problem is two fold, cyber criminals hacking actual YouTube accounts as well as credit card info being sold openly on YouTube. YouTube service turned up dozens of videos selling stolen credit card data, according to an Internet-safety research group trying to shed more light on an $18 billion illicit industry. The group, called the Digital Citizens Alliance, accused YouTube of failing to block the videos while profiting from legitimate advertisements that run next to them. Doing a search for how to get valid 2014 credit card numbers yielded nearly 16,000 results according to one report.

Selling Credit Card Numbers On Youtube
Companies pay Google in order to have their online advertisements appear next to YouTube videos or to be overlaid on the video. YouTube has thousands of videos promoting compromised credit card numbers, with the site sometimes running advertisements for legitimate credit cards or retail outlets alongside the hacker videos, according to a new report from an online safety group

Companies that had ads appear alongside videos selling stolen credit card data included American Express Co., Amazon.com Inc. and United Continental Holdings Inc., according to a report. Google has “stringent advertising guidelines” and works “to prevent ads appearing against any video, channel or page once we determine that the content is not appropriate for our advertising partners. But apparently this doesn’t happen as well as it should.

Spending on digital video advertising will increase by $1.76 billion this year alone compared to $1.31 billion in 2013, with YouTube and Facebook leading the way, according to Bloomberg Industries research.

Cyber Criminals Hacking Youtube Accounts

One of the worst things that can happen to you online is getting your Google account hacked. Owing to the fact that all your Google services – Gmail, YouTube, Google Plus, AdSense and more – are connected to the Google account, hacking a Gmail account means hacking of all the services. Not only can the hacker read your emails, they can send emails from your Gmail account – risking your reputation and harming your dignity. Or even worse, it can be a case of identity theft.

There may not be any inclusive methods to tell if your Google account is hacked. You may receive a mail from Google talking about suspect activities from one of your Google linked accounts. You may see undelivered mail notifications to email addresses that you do not know. You may notice that email forwarding is set up to an email address that you do not recognize. There are many ways in which a hacker can use your Google account once it is hacked. The most common of them all is to send messages on your behalf. If you see unknown emails in the Sent folder of your Gmail account, your account has most likely been compromised.

In most cases, the hacker leaves the account credentials unchanged so that you do not suspect that the account has been compromised. In some cases however, the hacker may change your Google login credentials and also remove the phone and alternate email address associated with the account. In such case, it becomes very difficult to regain control of that Google account – as Google will ask you for the exact date when you created that account. This information is hard to remember unless the email notifying you of account creation was backed up to some other email address to which, you have access.

What To Do If Your Google Account Gets Hacked?

➢ If you can access your Google Account
If the hacker has not changed your login credentials, or if you were able to regain control of your account using your alternative email ID or phone, you need to secure your account immediately by changing the password.

➢ Change the password to something that is new and has not been used before make sure it is a strong password with a mix of letters, numbers and symbols.
➢ If you have used the same password with other accounts, change the passwords on the other accounts immediately so that the hacker cannot take control over them. For example, if your hacked Google account had the same password that you use on LinkedIn, you need to change the LinkedIn password as well. Do not use the same password on multiple accounts.

➢ Check the Google account settings to see changes. Most often, hackers add forwarding of Gmail emails to another account. They may also set up other accounts to use your Gmail account to send emails. You need to reverse the settings. The important areas to check are: 1) Accounts and Imports and 2) Forwarding and POP.

➢ Check the sent items folder to see if the hacker contacted anybody. If he did, contact those people and tell them your Google account was hacked and that message was sent by the hacker.

➢ Check the chat area for finding out if the hacker used the feature to chat with anybody under your identity. If he did, you need to notify the person whom he contacted using chat.

➢ Scan your computer for malware
One of the possible causes for a locked down account or a compromised account is presence of malware on your computer. Use Microsoft Security Essentials or some other trusted anti malware to scan your computer and eliminate any possibility of any malware. You can also use the trial version of McAfee or Norton.

Basic Prevention
There is no magic pill to fully protect your YouTube account from being hacked but there are a few simple things you can do to help fight back.

Turn on 2-Step Verification
The 2-Step Verification adds an extra layer of security to your Google Account, drastically reducing the chances of having the personal information in your account stolen.

Firewall
Check to make sure your firewall is up on your computer.
A firewall is a layer of security that designates what traffic is and isn't allowed to enter your computer on a network. Generally, they let good traffic through, while keeping hackers, malware, and other unsavory traffic out.

Antivirus
Always use reputable antivirus software and keep it up to date! Antivirus software is a computer program that detects, prevents, and takes action to disarm or remove malicious software programs, such as viruses and worms. You can help protect your computer against viruses by using antivirus software.

To help prevent the most current viruses, you must update your antivirus software regularly. You can set up most types of antivirus software to update automatically.

Passwords
Never use the same password over multiple accounts and change passwords periodically never using birthdates or personal info, using numbers, letters, caps and lowercase and symbols to strengthen your personal password.


Conclusion

Keep it in mind that it might not be possible to recover the account when the hacker has removed your alternative email ID and phone information from your Google account and you do not remember the alphanumeric code sent to you when you created the Google account in question. In such a case, the only option left is to inform about the hacked account to those important to you so that they do not fall prey to cyber criminals phishing attempts. That way, you will also come to know if the hacker is using your identity for anything treacherous. It would be wise to file a report with local police in case of identity theft just to be safe.
Once again always keep a reputable antivirus up to date on your system and check to make sure your firewall is up. Never use the same password for multiple accounts and most importantly, use common sense when operating online.

For more information about Redport’s information assurance and cyber security services, visit www.redport-ia.com, email us at info@redport-ia.com, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter@redport_ia.

- Suzanne Gonzalez

Gaithersburg, MD