Beware this V-Day: e-card may be from a hacke

New Delhi: Valentine's Day is popular for gifts, flowers and cards and even e-cards. But one may not be aware that an e-card may be a hacker's way of spoiling this special day.

Love took a sinister turn for Reema (Name Changed), when an admirer hacked into her Orkut profile.

"I realised there were messages sent from my Orkut profile which I never sent, I later got to know that a stalker was doing it," said Reema.

Sending 'I love you' messages is rather tame. Jilted lovers have defaced sites, posted obscene content, even defamed their ex-flames through cyber space. So, this Valentine's, here's how to protect yourself.

First, don't pass your password around. And change it, very often.

Don't click on random links - they are a hacker's favourite tools.

If you ARE hacked, tell the webmaster. Even better, call in the cops. Don't worry, they don't bite.

"We can track them down in 48 hours. We can publicly humiliate them," said Director, Centre for Research in Computer Crime,s Rakesh Goyal.

But cyber threats don't end there, buying a Valentine's gift online can also cause trouble.

"Lot's of the online shopping sites are bogus. You might even get links from sites like eBay offering cheap stuff but they are not always real," said Senior Manager, eBay India, Deepa Thomas.

And finally, look out for suspicious emails this season. It may carry a deadly virus called waledec or w32.

"If you get a mail with cute subject lines like 'I belong to' or 'you are the one'. Do not click on it. It will take you to a string of hearts, once clicked it will not just damage your computer but can also take important details like passwords," said Vice-President, Symantec, Shantanu Ghosh.

As always, update your anti-virus regularly and do systems check.

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