Pitfalls of information harvest
By Scot Mewbuorn and John Garrison

Modern technology means you can handle lots of information. Make sure only people you choose to share information with have access.

When it comes to technology and the growing usage of it, harvest is a year-round process. In today’s modern farming and ranching environment, there is a growing need to accumulate and process information. It may be tracking the chemical usage and yield on your farming acres, keeping records on your livestock to increase production and meet government regulations or just keeping that old shoebox full of receipts for tax time, but collection of your information is critical to every agricultural family or business.

So it is important to know how to efficiently collect that information—and safeguard it.

The great part about technology is that the useful devices keep getting smaller. This makes it easier for you to use and transport these devices around your farm.

Today there are personal digital assistant (PDA) devices that range from the electronic phone book to fully capable computers that fit in the palm of your hand. There are programs available for these PDAs that allow for all types of information to be gathered as you do your daily tasks. Once gathered, it is important that you have the ability to rapidly share that information between your PDA and other devices such as your home computer. Technology is making it easier to gather and move this information with wireless (Wi-Fi) and infra-red communications. In turn, you are better able to use great sums of information to increase your business profits and ease your daily work efforts.

Use just a few of these ag-related programs that can be obtained from universities and private vendors to gather information for everything from birth weights to acre-by-acre yield, and you will soon discover you better understand the strengths and weaknesses of your operation.

The bad news is, you’re not the only one who wants to harvest the information contained on your computer and PDA. Attacks on the Internet are becoming more and more commonplace as hackers and other criminal elements gain their own technical prowess in manipulating and recording activities and personal information. Much of this happens online. There are many ways to deceive the common Internet user. One of the most accomplished deceptions occurred last year. Many people received what appeared to be an e-mail from Microsoft, advising that there was a Windows update available. Of course, the link in this message did not lead the user back to Microsoft, but to another Web site that installed malicious software on the user’s PC. There were several clues that the e-mail was illegitimate; the most obvious hint was that the message was written with very poor grammar. However, many people simply saw the Microsoft logo, the familiar colors and fonts, and haphazardly clicked on the dubious link. In turn, the link took users to a site that installed a program that altered the computer, allowing the hacker to control the newly infected PC.

This type of computer infection is known as spyware and has become a scourge of the Internet. Spyware can be installed as simply as visiting any Web site that is set to spring a hacker’s trap. Users usually know nothing is happening until the computer begins to run increasingly slower day after day.

Decreased processing speed is due to the spyware sending information back to the hacker while the computer is online. Spyware can record keystrokes such as typed user names and passwords as well as personal financial information stored on the infected machine. To combat this, anti-spyware software is available for download from the many reputable sites for free or minimal cost. Microsoft’s own anti-spyware application is located at http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx. It is currently free of charge. Another anti-spyware application is Spybot—Search & Destroy, which can be downloaded for no charge from http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download. The Microsoft version runs automatically in your processor. Spybot’s icon must be clicked on to start. Both are effective defense against malicious software.

Another type of attack against personal computers is a variant of the Microsoft update e-mail. This type of exploit uses a similar disguise, claiming to be from a noteworthy bank or credit card company. Such probing has been dubbed “phishing,” as it is actually fishing for your personal information. Because these e-mails have the same look as a familiar company’s Web site, users may assume that it is legitimate. Usually, the verbiage of a phishing e-mail suggests it is from the company’s customer service or account management office. The ploy typically involves asking for verification of personal information. Unsuspecting recipients are asked to click the included link in order to confirm their name, date of birth, Social Security number, user name and password—sometimes even financial account numbers. If ever in doubt about an e-mail like this, ask yourself one important question, “Wouldn’t the bank or credit card company, or even eBay already have this information?” Links on phishing e-mails often connect the deceived user to a temporary Web site that looks like the familiar company’s Web page. The user then enters their personal information, and, with the click of the submit button, the process of identity theft has begun.

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, phishing Web sites exist for less than a week, then disappear along with all the information they have stolen. To combat this type of attack use common sense. Never click on a link that is incorporated in this type of an e-mail message. Resist that urge and you will protect your personal data. Some current phishing attack messages are using eBay, Chase Bank and even the Internal Revenue Service logos as the proverbial sheep skin as lure to catch your financial identity. If you suspect this type of message is bogus, contact the company by telephone. They will appreciate the news that their company name is being used in a phishing message, and sometimes enroll corporate security to help stave off the attacks. There is a free tool that is distributed by GeoTrust.com to verify  Web sites. It checks against with legitimate site registration agencies to confirm that you are visiting a proper site and not a bogus page. This technology is currently used at MFA’s home office to verify Web sites. The download places a toolbar in your browser with an icon that states if the site is verified. The software warns you if the site is not verified, and such sites should be avoided—unless you know by other means that the Web site is safe to visit. This tool is also available free of charge at http://www.trustwatch.com. Click on “toolbar download.” The GeoTrust toolbar also incorporates a pop-up blocker.

Yet another type of deception that is becoming prevalent on the Internet is Web site hijacking, which has come to be known as “pharming.” Pharming is similar to a phishing attack, but rather than sending an e-mail with a bogus link, criminals actually hijack a reputable company’s Web site by name. The hackers replace the legitimate Web site with their own Web server and a page that looks identical to the one they have hijacked. The hijacked site will have some sort of statement that requests confirmation of personal information just as the phishing Web site. Pharming sites also are short lived, disappearing in mere hours or days, yet taking with them critical information from all the users duped by the ruse.

Scot Mewbuorn is the IT services director for MFA and John Garrison is the technical support manager for MFA.