Watch out for those pop-ups and be very careful about the websites you visit. Despite current patches and anti-virus software, one of our clients got hit with some nasty malware recently. They did not fully explain, but it could have been accidentally clicking on a pop-up or visiting a website that delivered it unknowingly or deliberately. Either way, we spent a good bit of time removing it.
The problem is that so many websites deliver ad content dynamically, including pop-ups, and sometimes the servers that deliver that content can be infected either unknowingly or deliberately. Personally, I run a utility on my computer that blocks all server delivered ad content. It not only protects me from the drive-by ad content and infection, I find it a lot more pleasurable to view a page with the small word “Advertisement” in place of a big flashing ad.
The only drawback is that you sometimes receive an error when you click on a “sponsored” link. That is easily enough bypassed with a management utility or simply copying and pasting the link.
If you are interested in learning more about protecting yourself, please contact us.
Passwords are required for many things in our daily lives: computers, phones, voice mail, bank accounts, and the list goes on. How secure is your password? A group of programmers who write password breaking software published a list of the top 500 worst passwords.
Are you guilty of keeping the default password that comes with your computer or device? Many hackers take advantage of people who do not change default passwords; some demanding ransom.
Remember some of these basic password guidelines:
- Select a password that you can remember, don’t keep written passwords in your wallet or desk drawer.
- Use at least 8 characters, mixing letters (upper and lower case), numbers, and characters such as $, #, %, and so on.
- Don’t use a word found in a dictionary, English or foreign.
- Don’t use passwords based on personal information such as: name, nickname, birth date, wife’s name, pet’s name, friends name, home town, phone number, social security number, and so on.
- Be creative. Misspell words, string together phrases. For instance, if you are a pet lover, you could turn “a tail and four paws” into “tayl4Paz”.
Windows 7 is out. As with all Microsoft operating systems, even though Microsoft provides an upgrade, they (and we) advise a clean install. From our reading, it appears a Windows 7 upgrade will set you on the path to instability and problems.
I received this phishing e-mail which was so funny, I just had to share:
Dear Bank of America Account Holder,Due to multiple login attempt error while login in to your Bank of America Account , We have believed that someone other than you are trying to access your account.For security reasons,we have temporarily suspend your account and your access to login into your online banking Account. There by you are required to re-confirm your membership details.Confirm your Bank of America Account now to enjoy the benefits of online banking and finance and to avoid fraudulent activites on your account.To initiate the verification process: https://www.bankofamerica.com/Control.do?page=corp _bofacom If your membership details are not re-confirmed within 48 hours then your ability to access your account will become restricted.. Thank you. Sincerely, Bank of America Account Review Department. Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing Lender © 2009 Bank of America Corporation. All rights reserved.
If you are going to try to scam people, you might try to find someone with a better grasp of the English language for starters. And while I removed the actual link, the letters in blue are exactly the way I received the link. Notice a problem? If the sender was phishing for a laugh, mission accomplished!
A client recently had the need to convert a PDF document to a Microsoft Word document and enlisted our help. Short of purchasing the full version of Acrobat, or purchasing a single-purpose conversion program (which can run anywhere from $29 to $99), the alternatives were pretty slim. There are free conversion programs on the market, but the reviews were not overwhelmingly good.
Luckily, we discovered a free web-based conversion program that worked perfectly. It is called PDF to Word (free!) and while it claims to be a beta program, we had no problems. It preserved the formatting of everything, including placement of images and the formatting of a table. You simply browse to the location on your computer where the PDF file is located, enter your e-mail address, and about 3-5 minutes later, you receive the Word document in your e-mail.
Perfect for low-volume needs.
We suggest you read the full article about Vishing from the FBI, but here is the Executive Summary version:
“Vishing starts with an e-mail, like phishing, but requests that end-users contact a particular institution by phone in order to resolve an issue or re-secure personal data. . . . Ironically, vishing e-mails may even attempt to reassure recipients of their legitimacy by stating that the institution in question would never request customer financial data via e-mail or IM.
“Vishing attacks are rising as voice-over-IP services become more popular. VoIP users (both commercial and residential) aren’t required to provide valid Caller ID information, which makes it an ideal platform from which to launch vishing attacks.”
Always use your common sense concerning e-mail. Visit a website from your own bookmark, not links provided in the e-mail. Same with phone numbers, call your institution using a phone number provided on a statement or other verified source, not from a number provided in an e-mail. Always be cautious and never provide any personal information over the phone if you did not originate the phone call.
The FBI has come out with a list of New E-Mail Scams and Warnings. We install e-mail firewalls at our client offices with Exchange Servers and have found this to be a very effective method of screening out most of the junk mail, but no filter works 100% of the time. These firewalls, however, are not installed on personal e-mail accounts and we highly recommend a healthy dose of skepticism when screening your own personal e-mail.
There is a new type of search engine being introduced by Dr. Stephen Wolfram called Wolfram|Alpha. It is not like Google or other search engines you are familiar with and not intended to be so. It is more of an instant analysis type of search engine. For instance you can type in Mt. Everest and it will tell you all sorts of data about it: how high it is, the location, surrounding towns, weather, etc. Very interesting. For more information go to YouTube and type in WolframAlpha.
Protecting against this much talked about worm is a multi pronged process.
1. Make sure your system is fully patched (all of our clients are).
2. You may want to disable AutoRun. If you don’t, and you see a selection of Open Folders to View Files Publisher Not Specified do not choose that option. Disabling AutoRun will not fully protect you against Conficker.
3. Make sure your antivirus software is completely up to date (again, all of our clients are protected).
4. Use strong passwords both for any user account and also for any file share in your environment.
A quick way to tell if your computer is infected is to try to access the Web site of a major antivirus vendor, which the worm blocks.
According to Microsoft, computers with the latest security updates, current antivirus software, strong passwords, and secured shares are protected against this worm.
Everyone should have this gem bookmarked on their web browser. Go over to PrintWhatYouLike.com right now and try it out. You enter in a webpage and controls show up on the left side that help you select and then save or print only the content you choose.
In the past, I have somtimes been able to accomplish this by selecting items to print and then choosing “print selection”, but there have been many times that the content I want is not contiguous or I accidently make the wrong print selection and the whole page prints anyway. This site eliminates all those issues and lets you select exactly what you want to print.
They also have a little bookmark applet. What this does is eliminates the need to visit the site when you are already on a page that you want to print. By clicking this bookmark, the PrintWhatYouLike controls wrap around the page that you are on, enabling you to get right down to business. The bookmark applet does use javascript, but unless you have turned off Java in your browser deliberately, it is on by default.