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"Make no mistake: this kind of harassment can be as frightening and as real as being followed and watched in your neighborhood or in your home," says Vice President Al Gore.

This makes it clear for everyone that cyber stalking is an important threat to security and should be treated accordingly. This paper will discuss the topics of what is cyber stalking all about and has the purpose of informing security concerned people of the dangers that lie behind the screen.

What is Cyber Stalking?

Cyber-stalking refers to the use of the Internet, e-mail, or other electronic communications device to stalk another person. This kind of attack is usually directed towards specific targets, so if you are the victim of a cyber stalking activity then you can be sure that someone is highly interested in your actions and private information. As compared to real cyber activity, stalking generally involves harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects, or vandalizing a person's property. This is indeed categorized as illegal behavior and even though cyber-stalking does not involve physical contact, it is just as threatening as physical stalking.

There are many similarities between both types of stalking. It is widely known that the majority of stalkers are men and most of the victims of stalking activities are women or people that are known to be easy to influence and on a morally low profile.

It is to be noted that if in physical stalking an attacker has to be in the same geographical area, in the cyber world your stalker can be in the same apartment building or thousands of miles away, in front of his computer. This is because cyber stalkers do not need to physically confront the victim, making it much easier to conduct such actions.

Cyber stalking many times involves the harvesting of personal information related to the victim from various web resources that the victim either uses or is related to in any way (i.e. phone company, Internet Service Providers, personal web page etc.). Armed with a little bit of knowledge, cyber stalkers can take their actions to the next step and contact their victims at home or office with the help of either phone or mail and address certain harassment messages or warnings that sometimes results in the panic of the victim.

"Assuming the proportion of cyber-stalking victims is even a fraction of the proportion of persons who have already been the victims of offline stalking within the preceding 12 months, there may be potentially tens or even hundreds of thousands of victims of recent cyber-stalking incidents in the United States," states Attorney General, Janet Reno.

This is indeed an important challenge to law enforcement as very little or no information can be found in many of the cases of successful cyber stalking. Attackers are using one of the biggest advantages of the Internet (anonymity) to avoid identification and liability for their actions. Very little or no public attention or resources are attracted for the successful implementation of such attacks.

Can I Prevent Cyber Stalking?

Yes. This can always be prevented with a bit of caution and possibly some drop of paranoia for the end user. As the Internet has become a place where many types of illegal activities can be conducted anonymously then why would you - the average user - go out and share your personal and private data publicly? This is something to be taken into serious account and shouldn't under any circumstances be ignored. The successful avoidance of cyber stalking can also lead to the prevention of many types of phishing and identity theft attacks.

As a general rule, try to follow the coming tips and tricks that most of the times are all you need to keep your online privacy intact:

Do not share personal information in public spaces anywhere online, nor give it to strangers, including in e-mail or chat rooms. Do not use your real name or nickname as your screen name or user ID. Pick a name that is gender and age neutral. And do not post personal information as part of any user profiles.

Be extremely cautious about meeting online acquaintances in person. If you choose to meet, do so in a public place and take along a friend.

Make sure that your ISP and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network have an acceptable use policy that prohibits cyber-stalking. And if your network fails to respond to your complaints, consider switching to a provider that is more responsive to user complaints.

If a situation places you in fear, contact a local law enforcement agency.

Whenever you feel that you are the victim of cyber stalking be sure to take appropriate actions and never ignore a possible first alarm. If you are receiving unwanted contact, make clear to that person that you would like him or her not to contact you again and also it would be a good idea to save all communication and data related to a possible cyber stalking attack for later evidence.

A solution would be also to take evasive measures and to secure your workstation from "peeping eyes" and spies. This can be done with the help of the award winning security suite that Secure PC Solutions offers and that has saved many private data and has secured numerous systems and companies around the world. Be sure to visit www.1clicksuite.com before going any further in the process of personal security planning.

If under any circumstances the situation goes out of hand, do not underestimate to report this to corresponding private or state institutions. In this case contact your local police department and inform them of the situation in as much detail as possible. In appropriate cases, they may refer the matter to state or federal authorities.

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