Exposed: Repair Shops Hack Your Laptops

Some Computer repair shops are illegally accessing personal data on customers' hard drives - and even trying to hack their bank accounts, a Sky News investigation has found.
In one case, passwords, log-in details and holiday photographs were all copied onto a portable memory stick by a technician.
In other shops, customers were charged for non-existent work and simple faults were misdiagnosed. An investigator from Trading Standards said he was "shocked" by the findings.
The investigation was carried out using surveillance software loaded onto a brand-new laptop. It operated without the user being aware that every event that took place on the computer was being logged.

Click here to read the full article on the Sky News web site.

Computer Advice Centre's code of conduct to ensure your personal data remains secure

• We visit you, not only to save you the inconvenience of bringing your computer to us, but also to encourage you to watch what we are doing on your computer, while we explain why we are performing various tasks. It would be very difficult for anyone to conceal copying data onto USB memory stick while you are present.
• If your password needs to be entered at any time while we are working on your computer, such as during a computer restart, we discreetly look the other way, while you type your password. We really would rather not know your passwords.
• There is always a chance that at some point in the future, your computer may need to be taken to a repair centre, and hence be out of your sight for a while. If you do not want others to see private images, such as family and holiday photographs, you could store these pictures on an external Hard Drive, rather than on your computer. (Don't forget to back these photographs up on at least one other backup device, as if they only exist on one device, there is a risk of losing the data if that device fails.)
• If you do wish to keep a record of your confidential information on your PC, we recommend that you use a password encryption utility program. We can advise you on where to find such programs, some of which are freeware.