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Read the latest posts from the PremierePC blog. Office Updates, Q & A, Solution Highlights, TechBytes, and more
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10 tips to avoid being βScroogedβ online this holiday season.
From our friends at SurfRight, makes of Hitman Pro Anti Malware.
In a year when online shopping sales have shown continued growth in excess of $226 Billion in 2012, online holiday shopping is also projected to increase, with a projected $2 Billion in sales for Cyber Mondayalone, according to Adobe Systems. Online retail sales for the Holiday season are expected to exceed $96 Billion according to Shop.org, fueled in no small part by an increase in mobile shopping and increased social media marketing.
The end-of year shopping frenzy has once again attracted the attention of cybercriminals. Not content with the $110 Billion they have cost consumers worldwide this year, online criminals are looking at the holiday shopping season to fill their own stockings with looted cash.
In an effort to get ourselves on Santaβs βniceβ list, we have compiled a list of tips to help keep holiday shopping fun and safe.
1. Make sure you have an antivirus installed and updated. Set it up to scan frequently during the holiday shopping season.
Like spam, spreading identity-stealing malware is a numbers game that is practiced on a massive level. It only takes a small percentage of victims to net large sums of money to cybercriminals through stolen personal and financial data. The easiest people to target are those who do not have any security measures in place.
If the holiday season has tightened your budget, there are a number of decent free antivirus products available on the market today from vendors such as Avast!, AVG, Avira, Microsoft and others. They usually lack the advanced security features and support of paid products, but are a good line of defense if nothing else is available.
2. Check if your antivirus is working properly
Even if you do have a working antivirus program, you should double-check your computer for an infection. According to European security vendor Surfright, when checking over 1 million computers that had an antivirus installed, 24% were still infected with a virus. You can use products like HitmanPro to get a second opinion about potential malware already on your system, as well as cleaning it up if exists.
3. Be cautious of emails warning you of unshipped or delayed items.
A favorite tactic of cybercriminals is to create emails that create a sense of urgency to the intended victim in order to get them to click a link containing malware. Knowing that people want to make sure their gifts arrive in time, cybercriminals send fake emails purportedly from the U.S. Postal Service, UPS or FedEx claiming that a delivery was delayed. All you need to do is click a link to check your status, and a βdrive-by downloadβ can occur, making your computer open to identity theft if you try to use it for purchases or online banking. Any legitimate communication from shippers will usually also contain a tracking or other reference number. Copy and paste this number to the delivery companyβs actual site whenever possible. This simple extra step can save you a lot of headaches down the road. If you see attachments within these types of emails, avoid opening them, as shippers rarely send attachments with their emails.
4. Give extra scrutiny to βcard declinedβ or unrecognized βinvoiceβ emails.
A close cousin to the shipping email is the credit card email. Again, cybercriminals want you to think a purchase has not gone through, or that unauthorized purchases are being made from your credit card, all to get you to click a link that can install malware or get you to enter your personal information. Sometimes legitimate sites are temporarily hijacked for this purpose, and the link to the malware leads to these sites. Again, do not click these links, call your bank and find out if there is any recent unauthorized activity happening with your account.
5. Double-check unfamiliar online shopping sites
These sites are a less common tactic, but several do exist. They might come up on search results when you look for specific model items like flat screen televisions or video game consoles. You can check the domain with free online tools that contain user feedback such as Norton Safeweb or Web Of Trust that can give you a very good idea of how trustworthy a site actually is.
6. Watch out for Christmas-themed deals that are βToo good to be trueβ on consumer electronics.
Many large e-tailers and retailers run incredible sales in order to make the season jolly, but beware, some lumps of coal may appear online or in your inbox. Typically they are the hot items of this year and last year at 70%-90% discounts. Although you might see some βdoor buster dealsβ on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, donβt expect to pay $100 for that new iPhone 5 or iPad Mini. These types of scams are also seen as links on Social Networking sites such as Facebook, so you might want to install a free security Facebook app such as SafeGo, to keep dangerous links off your Facebook feeds.
7. Make sure your operating system, browser, and critical software such as Java, Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Flash are up to date.
Making sure your operating system is up to date is essential to safe shopping online. Outdated software can be exploited by cybercriminals in order to install malicious software without your consent. Here are some links to check if you are up to date:
Microsoft Windows XP
Microsoft Windows 7
Microsoft Windows Vista
Java
Adobe Flash
Adobe Reader (Download the latest version)
8. Be aware of so-called βRansomwareβ
One of the fastest-growing cyber-scams at the end of 2012 are βransomwareβ attacks. A virus attaches itself to your computer and typically places a supposed warning from a government agency such as the FBI, claiming that you have violated copyright laws and are subject to fines. Your computer then has limited functionality until you pay the supposed fine through a convenient method such as a money transfer card, available at your local convenience store. In reality, these funds usually go to some overseas scammer, but the computer is impossible to use until the fine is paid. Antivirus programs and second opinion scanners should be able to remove these threats, but when in doubt, contact your local computer repair shop and have them take a look at it. Taking this step could save you a significant amount of money if this happens to you.
9. Use reputable online shopping sites that are verified by third parties.
During the holiday season, hackers go into overdrive, trying to infect legitimate websites with malware that is later on spread to unsuspecting victims. Before entering sensitive data or downloading anything from online retailers, make sure you are accessing it through a secure encrypted page (you will see https:// in your address bar and other icons indicating that the connection is encrypted in your browser). Also check on the payment page for third party verification seals. The more popular ones are TRUSTe, Norton Secure (Formerly Verisign), McAfee Secure and Comodo, which ensure your transaction is private, and that the site is scanned daily for vulnerabilities or tampering.
10. Identity theft can also happen over the phone.
We are all familiar with phishing scams, which attempt to get the victim to give up personal information that a criminal can use to perpetrate fraud. There is also a telephone version of this scam that is also growing and frequently targets landline owners. It works in a similar fashion to its online cousins. The caller claims to be from the bank, a store, or delivery service, and presents an issue that needs to be handled. In order to take care of this, they just need you to verify your social security number, account number, online banking password or other piece of sensitive data. One thing to remember is that no online business will ask for a password over the phone. Some businesses may ask for your account or social security, but before volunteering this information, you should get an issue or tracking number and opt to call them back, preferably on the number that is printed on your bill.
Conclusion
Online shopping continues to grow and each year it becomes more and more popular. The Holiday season is a time of heightened activity when a lot is going on and we tend to have our guard down. Criminals know this fact, and use it to their advantage with clever tricks and increased activity directed towards consumers. It is therefore extremely important to protect yourself with software updates, antivirus protection, and being aware of potential scams in order to reduce the risk of online fraud happening to you. Increasing your online protection with a variety of different tools as well as a second opinion malware scan is a good idea, and cost-effective. With awareness and a little bit more vigilance, we can keep the season merry for ourselves and our loved ones.
Making EULAs Easy
We recently found this neat software tool. As most of us simply click accept to most terms and conditions when installing programs, use this little program to quickly analyze those terms and ensure you are not getting into something you would rather not.
Making EULAs EasyDiscover if the software you’re about to install displays pop-up ads, transmits personally identifiable information, uses unique identifiers to track you, or much much more. EULAlyzer can analyze license agreements in seconds, and provide a detailed listing of potentially interesting words and phrases.
http://www.brightfort.com/eulalyzer.html#Overview
Phone Scam – Microsoft Imposter
COMPUTER PHONE SCAM ALERT
We have had several calls the past few weeks from clients stating that Microsoft called them offering to help them clean their systems to some errors which were being reported.
The demographic appears to older citizens, retired, little to no computer knowledge. Where they are obtaining the lists of contacts is still unclear.
The scam begins with the folks stating they are with Alpha PC Care and are partners with Microsoft. They inform you that your system could be at risk and if you will run a simple command than you will see the results for yourself.
The company we have identified is called:
Alpha PC Care
347 709 5945 – United States
360 450 3952 – United States
0203 239 1998 – UK
Our calls to the numbers listed went unanswered.
A recent client stated:
“Had me pull up run box and type in “inf virus.” He then informed me any file that ended in pnf was a virus and wanted me to purchase a “security protection” package.”
To be clear, a PNF file is a System-maintained configuration file that is created when a .INF file is run; stored in the %Windir%Inf or %Systemroot%Inf folder in Windows.
http://www.fileinfo.com/extension/pnf
The Scam:
For those that are willing, they will offer to clean your computer system after you purchase the protection package.
A remote control session is started so they can gain access of your system and help with the “fix”.
They do in fact use real cleaning and optimization tools such as CCleaner and Malwarebytes, but in addition they load a custom software package that is also a key logger. The real purpose in addition to obtaining your credit card information is to mine as much personal data as possible for the purposes of identify theft.
If you have been scammed?
Don’t panic. The sooner you realize you have been scammed you should follow the following guidelines.
In many cases if you act fast enough, you will suffer no additional loss and be in the clear. Timing is crucial.
Final Thoughts:
It is very unlikely that Microsoft will contact you or that unless you are engaged with a computer monitoring service like PremierePC offers that anyone will be contacting you to alert you to issues. Even when Microsoft has known security flaws they push out updates instead of calling the millions of computer owners around the country.
Never provide any access to your computer unless you are certain of who you are dealing with and have in fact asked for help to begin with.
Prevent computer infections by having a top rated anti virus product like Panda Endpoint, Eset, or Vipre.
GoDaddy DNS Failure Takes Down Most Their Websites
Let my Wi-Fi go: FCC rules Verizon can’t charge for Wi-Fi tethering
In a US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruling, Verizon was ordered to stop charging users an additional fee for using their 4G smartphones and tablets as Wi-Fi hotspots, aka tethering.
P. Michele Ellison, FCC, Enforcement Bureau Chief, said in a statement, βThis case was the first of its kind in enforcing the pro-consumer open access obligations of the C Block [the spectrum band reserved for 4G] rules. It underscores the agencyβs commitment to guarantee consumers the benefits of an open wireless broadband platform by providing greater consumer choice and fostering innovation.”
Read Full Article:
http://www.zdnet.com/let-my-wi-fi-go-fcc-rules-verizon-cant-charge-for-wi-fi-tethering-7000001916/