May 26, 2026, 5:37 a.m. ET
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A Northern Kentucky man convicted of luring women to his house to sexually assault them also targeted them in a series of cybercrimes, hijacking online accounts and stealing compromising personal data to threaten and intimidate them.
Authorities say Paul Snow Jr., 44, used social media and his knowledge of technology to intimidate women for years, persuading some of them to share online account information and secretly using spyware to get images for blackmail.
Cybercrimes are becoming increasingly common. They range from internet scams to targeted thefts of personal data. In 2025, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received more than 1 million cybercrime complaints, with more than $20 billion in total losses.
Miami University Professor James Walden, director of the university’s Center for Cybersecurity, shared how cybercriminals operate and what people can do to protect their online information. The Enquirer’s questions and his responses have been edited for length and clarity.
What are the common ways bad actors exploit people’s data?
Walden: Fake tech support, fake antivirus things. They pop up on a website and ask you to contact them. And, of course, it’s never actually Microsoft support. It goes to usually some call center in Asia, where they have a company [and] their full-time job is doing tech support scams.
What about more targeted scams?
Walden: Those sorts of scams go more after personal email accounts and just sort of random websites. If you’ve heard the term “malverizement” … it’s where a criminal buys an ad and then they can really target you incredibly specifically. Depending on where you live, they might be able to target just you based on … your age range, your occupation, and they can often target an ad just to a single person.
It makes it really hard for cyber defenders to find because when I go to the New York Times website, there’s no malicious ad, but when you do, because they’re targeting you, you do see the malicious ad. They can try to steal information from you, they can redirect you to a malicious website that the criminal controls.
In the worst case, you don’t even have to click on it; you just have to see it.
What kinds of online information are cybercriminals interested in?
Walden: They can take anything that you have on your computer. One thing a lot of people are surprised by is that your email account is by far the most valuable, because if they have your email, they can see all of your other accounts … and then they can do password resets, which will be sent back to the email that they control now. So, they usually take over your whole digital life if they get your email.
How difficult is it to regain control of your account?
Walden: It’s extremely hard because usually most people’s email is with a large tech company, where it’s impossible to get a human to talk to about the issue. I’ve known people who basically just had to give up that particular digital identity and sort of start over.
What are the best practices to keep your data safe?
Walden: I’d say the first thing is, be up to date on all your security updates. The internet’s a very hostile place. If you’re not fully up to date, you will encounter a malicious website that will take over your computer.
I won’t say antivirus, because basically every operating system has a built-in antivirus already. These additional security systems, like Norton and so forth, aren’t really that helpful any longer. The other, of course, is passwords. So, being sure that you don’t reuse them and that they’re long. Unfortunately, that means they’re hard to remember, but there is software called password vaults or password managers.
If you’re [dealing] with older adults and they don’t feel comfortable setting that up, what I tell them is just have a notebook at home and write all your passwords in that. Unless somebody breaks into your house, those are pretty secure.
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