P2P programs enable users to share files over the Internet by accessing each other's hard drives directly, providing benefits for academic, governments, commercial interests and individual computer users.  Unfortunately, P2P technology is also used for many unlawful purposes, including copyright violations and distribution of child pornography.

P2P software is rapidly becoming the technology of choice for cyber criminals like identity thieves.  Most computer users have no idea how vulnerable their personal information is when P2P software is downloaded onto their computer.  Often, they don't even know the software is on their computer (Example: Teenager downloading it to their family computer without parental permission).

 

Imagine all your tax returns, medical records, family photos, your resume, professional records, online billing information, and anything else available to computer strangers.  Does this frighten you? It should.

 

February it was discovered that through a P2P network, an IP address in Iran had obtained blueprints and the avionics package for the Marine One, the president's helicopter. 

 

Additionally, an investment firm employee, by allegedly using LimeWire to trade music or movies, inadvertently released the names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers of about 2,000 of the firm's clients, including Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

 

What's alarming is that these high-profile cases don't even begin to scratch the surface of this problem.  Thousands of pages of personal information including tax records and medical records are still inadvertently making their way onto P2P networks.  In a two-week period alone, a Dartmought College professor was able to uncover tens of thousands of medical files containing names, addresses and Social Security numbers by serching P2P networks, according to his paper published Fed. 23, 2008.

 

Here's a alarming thought.  How many of your employees bring their work home with your business information and have these hazardous P2P programs installed on their home system, making your business information accessible to anyone in the world?

When you are connecting directly to another user somewhere in the world, you are also exposing your computer (Home/Work) to any virus that user has.  When you installed the P2P program on to the computer you willingly opened ports (incoming and outgoing) and informed your virus protechtion software to allow all information to travel without any regards of the harm it will cause to your system.  These viruses can corrupt your Operating System, steal personal information, cause your processor a high utilization percentage (leaving very little to none available for usage), cause your system to drop internet, cause your system to lose access to your devices (CD/DVD Drives, Network Cards, Etc.), and many other obnoxious things.

 

People that have used P2P Software for long periods of time without problems are usually carriers (people with many viruses in their computer).  These people are the ones who infect others, e.g. everyone on their address book, etc..., without even knowing what harm they are causing.