In America, one victim of a Rogue Dialer scam racked up some $500 in charges after their modem was hijacked and a premium rate number was contacted on just six occasions. In UK too, numerous victims have reported huge telephone charges, with some in excess of £1500 ($2800). The consumer website, Bad Business Bureau has received over 1300 complaints from victims of this latest scam and, while this whole matter is being investigated by Federal Trade Commission in States and by Office of Fair Trading in UK, scammers are already responding with new software which dials numbers in countries where trade controls are lacking.

A further blow has recently been delivered to UK based victims with announcements from leading telecoms providers, BT and NTL that they are "not responsible" for calls which have been made fraudulently and that customers will not be exempted from any charges incurred.

Protecting Yourself & Your Wallet Firewalls and and anti-virus software WILL NOT provide protection against Rogue Dialer infections. The "drive-by download" method of introducing a Rogue Dialer onto a PC normally involves an ActiveX script and users advised, at very least, to set their browser settings to either disable ActiveX or warn of its existence. For a more professional approach to protecting your modem, StopItNow, an Australian based software company has released a specific Rogue Dialer killer which retails for just $16.95.

To avoid having a Rogue Dialer dumped onto their computer via preview pane of Outlook Express, users may want to consider an alternative email client such as freeware program, Eudora.

Related Links: http://www.badbusinessbureau.com http://www.stopitnow.com.au http://www.ftc.gov http://www.oftel.gov.uk http://www.eudora.com

Whenever Microsoft publishes a security update, especially for a highly publicized and obviously widespread security breach, thousands of people will not immediately download update.

In fact, tens-of-thousands of users will not download these security updates for days, weeks, even months (if ever).

So let me ask what seems like a very elementary question: By publishing security updates that point out very obvious flaws in their system, doesn't Microsoft also point way to exactly where holes exist?

Let me put it another way.

Doesn't this rate same as discovering that local bank vault won't lock and then announcing details on front page of paper along with dates and times no bank guard will be on duty?

After all, if tens-of-thousands of users won't immediately get Microsoft Security Patch, don't those patches show hackers exactly which holes get plugged (and which, logically, must already be open without patch)?

It doesn't take a hacker with more than a basic set of skills to recognize where and what holes got fixed and then reverse-engineer how they can get into computers that don't get updated.

Now, do I have a concrete, 100% bullet-proof answer to this problem? Unfortunately, I don't have more than a common- sense answer...

At this point, your best defense rates staying current on latest threats and how to defend against them.

Keep your anti-virus software current, your firewall up, and your Windows software updated with latest security patches.

Though not a perfect solution, at least you'll have a fighting chance to prevent, or at least minimize, any possible threats.

For more information from Microsoft's website, go here http://www.ebookfire.com/download-ject.html