Thursday
Dec082011
The threats computer users face today.
Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 11:54AM
We use our computers for everything. Communication through Email, Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Banking, shopping, research, entertainment. In Estonia, France, Spain, Finland and Greece Internet Access has been declared “A Basic Human Right” and it’s been proposed in the United States, although not approved yet. Let’s face it, you can survive without the internet still but it would put you at a disadvantage and eventually you won’t be able to get through life without Internet access as more and more services become online only.
The problem is there are dangers but most people don’t see them or don’t want to accept them. Would you walk down a dark alley in an unfamiliar neighborhood at night? Would you buy an expensive item at 80% off from the back of a truck and believe its legal? Well you can’t just go upon your way online with your eyes closed.
I wanted to discuss some of the things to be aware of. Knowing what the threats are is the first step in protecting yourself and not falling into the traps. For starters, the most common problem today is Viruses.
How to know if you have one.
Almost all consumer viruses today present themselves as fake antivirus software. They pop up on your screen saying your infected with multiple viruses. They might call themselves “Antivirus 2011”; “Antimalware 2011”; “XP Antivirus” or something similar. Once you see this…your infected. There is no closing the program or backing out of it. It’s too late. If you try to close it, it just won’t work. If you click it you will be told this is a trail version and you need to purchase the full version, then it will ask for a credit card (I should not need to say it but...Don’t Give It!). At this point the program is also steeling credit cards numbers, passwords, anything it can so pull the power plug and get professional help to remove it.
How did you get the virus.
99% of the time you got it because you clicked on a link in an Email. Again…Don’t Do That! You may want to play that funny video your friend sent you or read that joke but a large percent of the time it’s a virus. “But it’s from my friend who sends me these things all the time”, you say. And the virus writers know this so the first thing they do when infect someone’s computer is send out an email to everyone in that persons address book with a link like “Funny Joke…Click to Read” and you get it from the friend who always sends these jokes, so you click it. Now your infected and you just sent the same thing to everyone you know.
Some viruses immediately post on your Facebook wall “Check out this video”. Your friends see it and click it not knowing it wasn’t from you, it was from your new little friend…the virus. Don’t Click It!
Attachments is the next most popular way. You get an email from Staples saying “A copy of your recent order it attached”. You think “What order?” and click the PDF or Word Document attachment. Now you got a virus.
Tax season is coming. You might get one from www.irs.gov that says “New 1040EZ Form Attached”. You think “Oh, I use the 1040EZ form” so you click it. Now you might have another deduction…A computer repair bill to remove the virus.
“But I need to click some links and some attachments are legit” you say. Yes, but use common sense. If you lost your password to Facebook or another site and click the “Recover lost password” link on the site and then they email you a link to reset your password 30 seconds later, well you just requested it, so it’s safe. Get somethinkg from your bank saying there is a problem with your account? Ok, but don’t click the link in the email. Open your browser and go to www.chase.com or whatever your bank is and log in that way. You know you get a certain document from a business associate or friend regularly then it’s probably fine. Just use good judgment.
Scams
There are too many to list but the most common is the “Family member out of the country” scam. Let’s say your son, daughter, friend has a Gmail or AOL Mail account and because remembering something more than 8 letters just proves to be too much work for them they use a password like “password” or their kids name. When the bad guys get into that account, they sit back and watch your emails. Once day they might see your traveling to Europe for that long awaited family vacation. Well when everyone is asleep in their hotel room, they send grandma an email explaining how the hotel room was robbed and everything was stolen. “Grandma,” they say, “Please wire us $4000 so we can get new passports and get home”. “Oh, how sad.” Thinks grandma as she clicks the link, enters her bank account information and just wired $4000 to some off shore account. Grandma would not give her credit card to someone on the street who asked for it and grandma needs to realize this is no different.
The Microsoft phone call
One evening you’re at home having dinner when a very polite gentleman or lady with a nice Indian accent calls and says he is from Microsoft and as part of the computer your purchased free monitoring from Microsoft is included. They have detected a virus on your computer and they want to help you remove it for free. “Please go over to your computer and click …” they say. So you do, what harm can there be in this?
“Do you see any red X’s and errors?” they ask. And wow! Look at that! A bunch of strange errors! They must really be from Microsoft your think. But these logs in windows show hundreds of entries, many of which are errors and are Perfectly Normal! But since they knew there were these errors on your computer they must be legit, so you continue to click whatever they tell you until you download software that allows them get every last bit of information from your computer now and whenever they want in the future. Solution…Hang Up The Phone!
Trade shows
Do you think because you’re at a trade show with people in your industry they are all really nice people? Would you also trust each and every one of them with your wallet? Your bank account information? Your Kids? Ever see those buckets full of free USB memory sticks that the vendors have for you to get information on their product or service? No more white papers. These days you just grab a cute little memory stick with their logo on it…and Yea! Its Free! It’s also free for the bad guys to take one or two or three, stick it in their computer and install a virus on it, then swing back and just drop it back in the bucket. Now you come along, grab the memory stick and plug it in when you get back to the hotel room. Now you have a virus! Congratulations!
There are MANY more scams out there. Back in the day, viruses were smart teenagers writing a virus so that when it made the evening news they could tell their friends “Yep! I did that.”. Now its organized crime. Usually in foreign countries doing this for what else? Money. And it’s a big business. Use common sense. Don’t click Links you were not expecting. Don’t open attachments you were not expecting. Always go to the website yourself by opening your browser and typing in the website. Do these basic things and you will be safe. Or, go ahead and click everything you want, watch that video, read that joke and just have our phone number handy so we can charge you to remove that virus when you get it.
The problem is there are dangers but most people don’t see them or don’t want to accept them. Would you walk down a dark alley in an unfamiliar neighborhood at night? Would you buy an expensive item at 80% off from the back of a truck and believe its legal? Well you can’t just go upon your way online with your eyes closed.
I wanted to discuss some of the things to be aware of. Knowing what the threats are is the first step in protecting yourself and not falling into the traps. For starters, the most common problem today is Viruses.
How to know if you have one.
Almost all consumer viruses today present themselves as fake antivirus software. They pop up on your screen saying your infected with multiple viruses. They might call themselves “Antivirus 2011”; “Antimalware 2011”; “XP Antivirus” or something similar. Once you see this…your infected. There is no closing the program or backing out of it. It’s too late. If you try to close it, it just won’t work. If you click it you will be told this is a trail version and you need to purchase the full version, then it will ask for a credit card (I should not need to say it but...Don’t Give It!). At this point the program is also steeling credit cards numbers, passwords, anything it can so pull the power plug and get professional help to remove it.
How did you get the virus.
99% of the time you got it because you clicked on a link in an Email. Again…Don’t Do That! You may want to play that funny video your friend sent you or read that joke but a large percent of the time it’s a virus. “But it’s from my friend who sends me these things all the time”, you say. And the virus writers know this so the first thing they do when infect someone’s computer is send out an email to everyone in that persons address book with a link like “Funny Joke…Click to Read” and you get it from the friend who always sends these jokes, so you click it. Now your infected and you just sent the same thing to everyone you know.
Some viruses immediately post on your Facebook wall “Check out this video”. Your friends see it and click it not knowing it wasn’t from you, it was from your new little friend…the virus. Don’t Click It!
Attachments is the next most popular way. You get an email from Staples saying “A copy of your recent order it attached”. You think “What order?” and click the PDF or Word Document attachment. Now you got a virus.
Tax season is coming. You might get one from www.irs.gov that says “New 1040EZ Form Attached”. You think “Oh, I use the 1040EZ form” so you click it. Now you might have another deduction…A computer repair bill to remove the virus.
“But I need to click some links and some attachments are legit” you say. Yes, but use common sense. If you lost your password to Facebook or another site and click the “Recover lost password” link on the site and then they email you a link to reset your password 30 seconds later, well you just requested it, so it’s safe. Get somethinkg from your bank saying there is a problem with your account? Ok, but don’t click the link in the email. Open your browser and go to www.chase.com or whatever your bank is and log in that way. You know you get a certain document from a business associate or friend regularly then it’s probably fine. Just use good judgment.
Scams
There are too many to list but the most common is the “Family member out of the country” scam. Let’s say your son, daughter, friend has a Gmail or AOL Mail account and because remembering something more than 8 letters just proves to be too much work for them they use a password like “password” or their kids name. When the bad guys get into that account, they sit back and watch your emails. Once day they might see your traveling to Europe for that long awaited family vacation. Well when everyone is asleep in their hotel room, they send grandma an email explaining how the hotel room was robbed and everything was stolen. “Grandma,” they say, “Please wire us $4000 so we can get new passports and get home”. “Oh, how sad.” Thinks grandma as she clicks the link, enters her bank account information and just wired $4000 to some off shore account. Grandma would not give her credit card to someone on the street who asked for it and grandma needs to realize this is no different.
The Microsoft phone call
One evening you’re at home having dinner when a very polite gentleman or lady with a nice Indian accent calls and says he is from Microsoft and as part of the computer your purchased free monitoring from Microsoft is included. They have detected a virus on your computer and they want to help you remove it for free. “Please go over to your computer and click …” they say. So you do, what harm can there be in this?
“Do you see any red X’s and errors?” they ask. And wow! Look at that! A bunch of strange errors! They must really be from Microsoft your think. But these logs in windows show hundreds of entries, many of which are errors and are Perfectly Normal! But since they knew there were these errors on your computer they must be legit, so you continue to click whatever they tell you until you download software that allows them get every last bit of information from your computer now and whenever they want in the future. Solution…Hang Up The Phone!
Trade shows
Do you think because you’re at a trade show with people in your industry they are all really nice people? Would you also trust each and every one of them with your wallet? Your bank account information? Your Kids? Ever see those buckets full of free USB memory sticks that the vendors have for you to get information on their product or service? No more white papers. These days you just grab a cute little memory stick with their logo on it…and Yea! Its Free! It’s also free for the bad guys to take one or two or three, stick it in their computer and install a virus on it, then swing back and just drop it back in the bucket. Now you come along, grab the memory stick and plug it in when you get back to the hotel room. Now you have a virus! Congratulations!
There are MANY more scams out there. Back in the day, viruses were smart teenagers writing a virus so that when it made the evening news they could tell their friends “Yep! I did that.”. Now its organized crime. Usually in foreign countries doing this for what else? Money. And it’s a big business. Use common sense. Don’t click Links you were not expecting. Don’t open attachments you were not expecting. Always go to the website yourself by opening your browser and typing in the website. Do these basic things and you will be safe. Or, go ahead and click everything you want, watch that video, read that joke and just have our phone number handy so we can charge you to remove that virus when you get it.
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