A hoax is “an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real.” A rumor is “an assertion or set of assertions widely repeated through its truth is unconfirmed by facts or evidence.” Both of these items are becoming a big problem in the business and personal word today. Yes, these are the spoof web pages you have possibly seen and those obnoxious emails you probably have gotten at least once in your life. Deviant and malicious Internet hoaxes can greatly harm your company if one is not prepared, and can certainly harm your computer, as well.

Internet Hoaxes started circulating in 1988. Some of the most popular Internet hoaxes are sent through email. The majority of these emails include some type of money exchange from one foreign nation to your personal account. The one’s that can really hurt you are spoof (fake) e-mails from a bank, IRS, pay pal, etc. That kind of spoof does normally include a link for you to go to and change some account information. What most people don’t know is that these websites act as a logger and relays the information back to a server. Most of this information is sold to others; however, sometimes the information is used by the hacker. There are other types of hoaxes out that do no damage at all; these are what I like to call, laughing in your face. The Laughing in Your Face hoaxes are basically just chain letters asking you to forward to so many people in order to save a life or win the lottery.

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