Does anyone remember the film Hackers? Angelina Jolie and Jonny Lee Miller starred as, you guessed it, computer hackers. Except anyone that had ever tried to hack a computer knew it was nothing like how it was portrayed. In fact, it’s arguable that no one in Hollywood knows what hacking is like. It’s never actually been accurately portrayed onscreen. Or, they know exactly what it’s like and realise it’s for too boring for a Hollywood movie. You see, the process of hacking isn’t how you understand it from various media outlets. If you know how to do it, it’s quite simple. There are no time limits, no fun games and no visualisations that appear on your screen like the Matrix. Hacking is quite dull. It’s far more interesting to think about what hackers are capable of and how they could affect your security. The answers to these questions might surprise you.

Copy The Computer

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If a virus is successfully installed on your computer, it might be able to clone the hard drive. The data will then be sent back to the source of the virus. Suddenly, a hacker has all the information on your hard drive, and it will have taken them less than five minutes. What can they do with this data? Well, once it’s accessible, they can sell it. Now, you might be thinking, what do terrorists want with my family photos. Nothing, it’s the data stored on your computer that you don’t even know is there. If you have ever typed in your credit card details, they still exist on your computer. All information that you’ve ever accessed does, online or offline. That’s why computer cloning is such a dangerous issue. If your computer is accessed, it might protect itself with what techies refer to as the blue screen of death. It sounds dire, but it’s the evidence of a memory dump. You can use software such as Reimage Plus to solve this issue and protect your computer.

Mobile Control

How scared would you be if the mouse on your screen started moving by itself? Not randomly, but accessing files on your system and looking through sensitive data. What do you do? You could switch off the computer, but there’s no guarantee this blocks them. It support teams often use the mobile control to check an issue with a computer when they are not on site. It’s much easier than trying to explain to an office worker how to fix it themselves. However, without permission, this process is highly illegal. It’s the ultimate invasion of privacy and thankfully, even in the hacking world, it’s quite rare

Crash The Systems

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The final thing a hacker can do is crash your systems completely. Rather than stealing or profiting from their actions, some hackers do this for fun or even as a political statement. The activist group Anonymous has crashed numerous systems to make a statement, including servers belonging to the FBI. This perhaps shows just how powerful hackers can be. Whether they are attacking a personal computer or an office hard drive. It’s why you should have all the latest security installed on your system.