According to Cindy Southworth, director and founder of the Safety Net Project (an organization working to end domestic violence) as high tech tools become an increasing part of our daily lives, abusers and stalkers are using them more and more to track and intimidate their victims.

According to an article in the August 14^th edition of the Washington Post, a young Alexandria, Virginia woman told local police she suspected her ex-boyfriend was tapping into her email inbox from thousands of miles away, reading her messages and harassing the senders.

She was right. Her ex had hacked into her e-mail account, either guessing her password or using spyware -- software that can secretly read e-mails and survey cyber-traffic, law enforcement officials said. For months, apparently, he had followed her every online move, part of a pattern of abuse city police are still investigating.

If you believe you may become a victim of domestic abuse through the use of spyware, below are four things you can do to help protect yourself:

1. You should have a comprehensive Internet protection package installed and up-to-date on your computer. StopSign Internet Security offers excellent antispyware, antivirus, firewall, IM scanner, custom cleaners* and technical support.
2. If you do find evidence that an abuser has installed spyware on your computer, do not remove it. It should be retained as evidence in a trial and removing it would alert the abuser you were aware of their spying actions.
3. If you are a victim of domestic abuse and are going to purchase tickets to flee the abuser, research domestic abuse shelters or look up divorce laws; do not use your home computer to do this research. A library computer or a trusted friends’ computer should be used for transmitting these types of private communications.
4. Be very suspicious if the abuser has knowledge of private online conversations or unexpectedly shows up at a location you had planned to be.

*Custom cleaners written by StopSign’s certified Tier 3 technicians can help identify the inner workings and programs on your computer. Our antivirus experts will assist you through the custom cleaning process in locating those types of programs and spyware, which may be used against you if you are a victim of domestic abuse.

If for some reason you have to use your home computer, there are some steps you can take to help protect your privacy from the abuser.

• Use a Web-based program for e-mail. Gmail, hotmail and yahoo all offer free web based email accounts.
• Store files on the Internet. You can utilize a secondary service to store your files online through a secure server.
• Change your password often. Choose password that are impossible to guess by randomly mixing characters and letters and frequently change your passwords.
• Clear your Web-browser history. Browsers such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator keep a record of the Web pages and documents you have accessed. They also store graphics of images you look at.
• Clear your document history. Applications such as Word or Excel keep a record of edited documents. Don't store or edit any documents you don't want the abuser to see on a shared computer.

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