Phishing Scams:
"Phishing" is a high-tech scam that uses spam or pop-up messages to deceive you into disclosing your credit card numbers, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or any other kind of confidential personal information. Identity theft is the goal of this scam.
The phisher sends you a fraudulent email that is designed to look like it was sent from a reputable company. The email directs you to a website that looks like it belongs to the reputable company, but is actually a spoof. You are asked to "update" your information here, and if you do, all that personal information goes straight to the phisher. uses this information for identity theft purposes such as making withdrawals from your bank and credit card accounts, ordering new credit cards which they promptly max out, etc.
Some of the most recent phishing attacks have spoofed the email and websites of well known companies, including eBa, Paypal, Yahoo, Pfizer, Bank of America, among others.
Work-At-Home Scams:
These are some of the more tempting spam scams. They offer those who need to make extra money the opportunity to do so, and invariably the email will state: "no experience necessary." The scammer often claims to have "inside information," and tries to bait you with the lure of quick money for next to no effort. More often than not, you are asked to pay anywhere from $35 to several hundred dollars to purchase the kits or materials that will not earn you a dime.
This scam often offers opportunities involving handicrafts, stuffing envelopes or medical billing on your home PC. If you fall for this scam, pay the fees for the handicraft or envelop-stuffing "kit," and complete the assembly of the crafts as instructed, you will be informed that your work is of poor quality and not worth paying for.
If you sign up for the medical billing "opportunity," you will be asked to purchase a list of doctors. These doctors are either fictional or do not want or need your services and never did.
Credit Repair Scams:
These scams tell promise to erase real and usually correct negative information that has been added to you credit report, so that you can qualify for loans, mortgages, unsecured credit cards, etc.
These services rarely deliver on their promise, and more often than not, will create a great many more problems in the long run. They have even been know to suggest that you commit fraud e.g. falsifying your social security number.
Guaranteed loans on easy terms:
Some email scams offer guaranteed, unsecured credit, such as a home-equity loans that does not require equity in your home, or credit cards regardless of your credit history.
This offer of credit is often extended by an off-shore bank.
This scam is often executed in conjunction with a pyramid scheme, which will encourage you to make earn money by signing up friends and family to participate in the scheme.
The promised offer of a home equity loans turns out to be a useless list of
lenders who will turn you down if you don't meet their qualifications. The promised credit cards never come through, and the pyramid money-making schemes invariably collapse.
Chain letters:
The spam email directs you to send a small amount of money to each of 4 or 5 names on a list, add your name to the top of the list and remove the last name on it, and then forward the updated list via bulk mail. Typically, the letter will claim the scheme is legal, and may refer to sections of US law as supporting proof of this. Not true.
These chain letters are almost always illegal, and nearly all those who participate in them lose their money.
Friday, February 22, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
What You Need To Know About Internet & Computer Security:
The Internet has leveled the playing field for entrepreneurs. With a reliable connection, and basic computer system (that become more powerful and less expensive each year), and very little capital, anyone can start there own online business. Ebay, Amazon, Craigslit, online stores, etc... the possibilities are endless. A doorway to hundreds and thousands per month. However, with every opportunity there are risks.
Miscalculations in protecting yourself can bring financial ruin from unauthorized use and data theft. Contrary to the popular belief that a small-size Internet business will make them safe from data hackers and online intruders, there is also a great risk and danger involved once you neglect to protect your computer system, especially the hacking and computer destruction activities that are increasing significantly as the Internet evolves over the years. Fact is that most small-time Internet entrepreneurs are blinded by the fact that they are not exempted from these notorious data thieves.
According to a research conducted by AMI-Partners, almost 50 percent of small and medium-sized online businesses failed to execute even the most basic security protection, which includes the installation of anti-spyware and anti-virus programs to their computer systems. This is one of the main reasons why the Mydoom worm triumphed, affecting one out of three small and medium-sized online businesses compared to one out of six large Internet companies. This was also discovered by the ISA or the Internet Security Alliance, a non-profit organization that handles information security issues. In other words, we can conclude that even small online businesses are more vulnerable to online threats of data theft and electronic sabotage.
Even more, every small online business owner must give data and network protection more attention due to the sophistication of data thieves. These thieves have now one of the advanced software programs and hardware necessary to break into the security measures implemented by data mangers. It would be a great waste of time and financial resources if your computer is left unguarded against these advanced data thieves and online hackers. You are on the verge of losing everything—including your computer, which is also a valuable investment.
Thus, it is important that you should consider data security and encryption as one of your top priorities. Keep in mind that your computer system is always vulnerable to this kind of attacks, even if you are just starting up. In fact, big businesses have more chances to recover compared to small business since big business have necessary funds available to recover from mishap. On the other hand, your small business has meager funds to start with your business—and an attack will be catastrophic for your small business.
There are hundreds of software providers that came up with latest solutions to guarantee the safety of your computer system. In addition, there are also Internet security services to guarantee protection of your online data against Internet hackers. By incorporating high level of encryption technology, hackers will have a hard time intercepting the data being stored in your computer system or while it is transmitted to a certain network of computer systems.
Every business has expenses and risks, but Internet security should be a priority. I only takes one hacker to bring a 'work from home' career to it's knees.
Miscalculations in protecting yourself can bring financial ruin from unauthorized use and data theft. Contrary to the popular belief that a small-size Internet business will make them safe from data hackers and online intruders, there is also a great risk and danger involved once you neglect to protect your computer system, especially the hacking and computer destruction activities that are increasing significantly as the Internet evolves over the years. Fact is that most small-time Internet entrepreneurs are blinded by the fact that they are not exempted from these notorious data thieves.
According to a research conducted by AMI-Partners, almost 50 percent of small and medium-sized online businesses failed to execute even the most basic security protection, which includes the installation of anti-spyware and anti-virus programs to their computer systems. This is one of the main reasons why the Mydoom worm triumphed, affecting one out of three small and medium-sized online businesses compared to one out of six large Internet companies. This was also discovered by the ISA or the Internet Security Alliance, a non-profit organization that handles information security issues. In other words, we can conclude that even small online businesses are more vulnerable to online threats of data theft and electronic sabotage.
Even more, every small online business owner must give data and network protection more attention due to the sophistication of data thieves. These thieves have now one of the advanced software programs and hardware necessary to break into the security measures implemented by data mangers. It would be a great waste of time and financial resources if your computer is left unguarded against these advanced data thieves and online hackers. You are on the verge of losing everything—including your computer, which is also a valuable investment.
Thus, it is important that you should consider data security and encryption as one of your top priorities. Keep in mind that your computer system is always vulnerable to this kind of attacks, even if you are just starting up. In fact, big businesses have more chances to recover compared to small business since big business have necessary funds available to recover from mishap. On the other hand, your small business has meager funds to start with your business—and an attack will be catastrophic for your small business.
There are hundreds of software providers that came up with latest solutions to guarantee the safety of your computer system. In addition, there are also Internet security services to guarantee protection of your online data against Internet hackers. By incorporating high level of encryption technology, hackers will have a hard time intercepting the data being stored in your computer system or while it is transmitted to a certain network of computer systems.
Every business has expenses and risks, but Internet security should be a priority. I only takes one hacker to bring a 'work from home' career to it's knees.
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
After The Storm
Without reveling to much detail that will get me in trouble... I work for an internet provider that covers 20+ states. I am tech support. I'm the guy that takes the heat when your internet goes down. Pretty good at it too... fix over 90% of the problems. Bad modems and farmer John digging up the high speed cables are out of my control.
Heads up - if you are still using AOL please do your self a favor and leave now. This is to far over your head and I grow weary of the mind set.
There have been a lot of winter storms and just plain ole bad weather across the land lately, and here is what I here the most. First I hear about how power was just restored to a community and the first thing people do is use there phones to complain about not having internet. Oblivious to the fact that the head end needs to reboot there servers also to get everyone back online.
Most folks realize that they need to reboot there modem to get a sync light but neglect to rest there routers also. First things first... You must have a solid sync light or connection light on the modem. If not, then chances are that repairs are being made on a 'city wide' basis. So what works 9 out of 10 times is this. Unplug the modem and router and turn off the PC. Plug in the modem by its self so it can establish an IP address to the rest of the world. Give it about 60 - 90 seconds. Then plug in the router. Again giving it time to grab an IP from the modem. Lastly turn on the computer. Now the NIC has a chance of finding your router.
There are many other things that could go wrong, but like I said, this works over and over again. These are just a few basic steps you can take before calling up your internet provider saving everyone time and frustration.
Heads up - if you are still using AOL please do your self a favor and leave now. This is to far over your head and I grow weary of the mind set.
There have been a lot of winter storms and just plain ole bad weather across the land lately, and here is what I here the most. First I hear about how power was just restored to a community and the first thing people do is use there phones to complain about not having internet. Oblivious to the fact that the head end needs to reboot there servers also to get everyone back online.
Most folks realize that they need to reboot there modem to get a sync light but neglect to rest there routers also. First things first... You must have a solid sync light or connection light on the modem. If not, then chances are that repairs are being made on a 'city wide' basis. So what works 9 out of 10 times is this. Unplug the modem and router and turn off the PC. Plug in the modem by its self so it can establish an IP address to the rest of the world. Give it about 60 - 90 seconds. Then plug in the router. Again giving it time to grab an IP from the modem. Lastly turn on the computer. Now the NIC has a chance of finding your router.
There are many other things that could go wrong, but like I said, this works over and over again. These are just a few basic steps you can take before calling up your internet provider saving everyone time and frustration.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Top 5 Rules For Fighting Spam
How prevalent is Spam? According to Scott McAdams, OMA Public Affairs and Communications Department (www.oma.org):
“Studies show unsolicited or “junk” e-mail, known as spam, accounts for roughly half of all e-mail messages received. Although once regarded as little more than a nuisance, the prevalence of spam has increased to the point where many users have begun to express a general lack of confidence in the effectiveness of e-mail transmissions, and increased concern over the spread of computer viruses via unsolicited messages.”
In 2003, President Bush signed the “Can Spam” bill, in December of 2003 which is the first national standards around bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail. The bill, approved by the Senate by a vote of 97 to 0, prohibits senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail from using false return addresses to disguise their identity (spoofing) and the use of dictionaries to generate such mailers. In addition, it prohibits the use of misleading subject lines and requires that emails include and opt-out mechanism. The legislation also prohibits senders from harvesting addresses off Web sites. Violations constitute a misdemeanor crime subject to up to one year in jail.
One major point that needs to be discussed about this: spam is now coming from other countries in ever-greater numbers. These emails are harder to fight, because they come from outside our country’s laws and regulations. Because the Internet opens borders and thinks globally, these laws are fine and good, but do not stop the problem.
So what do you do about this? Her are the top 5 Rules to do to protect from spam.
Number 1: Do what you can to avoid having your email address out on the net.
There are products called “spam spiders” that search the Internet for email addresses to send email to. If you are interested, do a search on “spam spider” and you will be amazed at what you get back. Interestingly, there is a site, WebPoison.org, which is an open source project geared to fight Internet "spambots" and "spam spiders", by giving them bogus HTML web pages, which contain bogus email addresses
A couple suggestions for you: a) use form emails, which can hide addresses or also b) use addresses like sales@company.com instead of your full address to help battle the problem. c) There are also programs that encode your email, like jsGuard, which encodes your email address on web pages so that while spam spiders find it difficult or impossible to read your email address.
Number 2: Get spam blocking software. There are many programs out there for this. (go to www.cloudmark.com or www.mailwasher.net for example). You may also buy a professional version. Whatever you do, get the software. It will save you time. The software is not foolproof, but they really do help. You usually have to do some manual set up to block certain types of email.
Number 3: Use the multiple email address approach.
There are a lot of free email addresses to be had. If you must subscribe to newsletters, then have a “back-up” email address. It would be like giving your sell phone number to your best friends and the business number to everyone else.
Number 4: Attachments from people you don’t know are BAD, BAD, BAD.
A common problem with spam is that they have attachments and attachments can have viruses. Corporations often have filters that don’t let such things pass to you. Personal email is far more “open country” for spamers. General rule of thumb: if you do not know who is sending you something, DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. Secondly, look for services that offer filtering. Firewall vendors offer this type of service as well.
Number 5: Email services now have “bulk-mail” baskets. If what you use currently does not support this, think about moving to a new vender. The concept is simple. If you know someone, they can send you emails. If you don’t know them, put them in the bulk email pile and then “choose” to allow them into your circle. Spam Blocking software has this concept as well, but having extra layers seems critical these days, so it is worth looking into.
“Studies show unsolicited or “junk” e-mail, known as spam, accounts for roughly half of all e-mail messages received. Although once regarded as little more than a nuisance, the prevalence of spam has increased to the point where many users have begun to express a general lack of confidence in the effectiveness of e-mail transmissions, and increased concern over the spread of computer viruses via unsolicited messages.”
In 2003, President Bush signed the “Can Spam” bill, in December of 2003 which is the first national standards around bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail. The bill, approved by the Senate by a vote of 97 to 0, prohibits senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail from using false return addresses to disguise their identity (spoofing) and the use of dictionaries to generate such mailers. In addition, it prohibits the use of misleading subject lines and requires that emails include and opt-out mechanism. The legislation also prohibits senders from harvesting addresses off Web sites. Violations constitute a misdemeanor crime subject to up to one year in jail.
One major point that needs to be discussed about this: spam is now coming from other countries in ever-greater numbers. These emails are harder to fight, because they come from outside our country’s laws and regulations. Because the Internet opens borders and thinks globally, these laws are fine and good, but do not stop the problem.
So what do you do about this? Her are the top 5 Rules to do to protect from spam.
Number 1: Do what you can to avoid having your email address out on the net.
There are products called “spam spiders” that search the Internet for email addresses to send email to. If you are interested, do a search on “spam spider” and you will be amazed at what you get back. Interestingly, there is a site, WebPoison.org, which is an open source project geared to fight Internet "spambots" and "spam spiders", by giving them bogus HTML web pages, which contain bogus email addresses
A couple suggestions for you: a) use form emails, which can hide addresses or also b) use addresses like sales@company.com instead of your full address to help battle the problem. c) There are also programs that encode your email, like jsGuard, which encodes your email address on web pages so that while spam spiders find it difficult or impossible to read your email address.
Number 2: Get spam blocking software. There are many programs out there for this. (go to www.cloudmark.com or www.mailwasher.net for example). You may also buy a professional version. Whatever you do, get the software. It will save you time. The software is not foolproof, but they really do help. You usually have to do some manual set up to block certain types of email.
Number 3: Use the multiple email address approach.
There are a lot of free email addresses to be had. If you must subscribe to newsletters, then have a “back-up” email address. It would be like giving your sell phone number to your best friends and the business number to everyone else.
Number 4: Attachments from people you don’t know are BAD, BAD, BAD.
A common problem with spam is that they have attachments and attachments can have viruses. Corporations often have filters that don’t let such things pass to you. Personal email is far more “open country” for spamers. General rule of thumb: if you do not know who is sending you something, DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. Secondly, look for services that offer filtering. Firewall vendors offer this type of service as well.
Number 5: Email services now have “bulk-mail” baskets. If what you use currently does not support this, think about moving to a new vender. The concept is simple. If you know someone, they can send you emails. If you don’t know them, put them in the bulk email pile and then “choose” to allow them into your circle. Spam Blocking software has this concept as well, but having extra layers seems critical these days, so it is worth looking into.
Beware Of Spyware
Adaware and Spyware are an ever increasing nuisance for computer users everywhere, but also a booming industry. According to Webroot Software, Inc., the distribution of online advertisements through spyware and adware has become a $2 billion industry. On top of that most folks open the doors on there hard drives and invite it in... With out naming names, a popular weather program and emoticon tool come to mind.
The aggressive advertising and spying tactics demonstrated by some of these programs, require an equally aggressive response from a seasoned eradicator. Sunbelt Software is such a company. A leader in Anti-Spyware, Anti-Spam, Network Security and System Management tools, they gave consistently remained on the cutting-edge of anti-spyware programming since 1994.
One of their more notable software applications is CounterSpy 1.5. CounterSpy is designed to detect and remove spyware that is already in your computer system. Additionally, it provides real-time protection while preventing browser hijacking and changes to your computer’s Registry.
Other notable features include:
>>> Detection and Removal of Tracking Cookies – while it is true that applications like Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta are free, they do not include the ability to detect and remove tracking cookies like CounterSpy does.
>>> History Cleaner - erases any traceable trails left on your computer as you surf the Internet.
>>> Secure File Eraser - a powerful deletion tool that can completely eliminate all files you want removed from your computer including images, music, movies and applications.
>>> PC Explorer - allows you a look into files and areas that are normally inconvenient to access, such as your startup programs, browser helper objects, and ActiveX programs that are being downloaded or used.
>>> Support for Older Operating Systems – includes Windows 98SE, Windows ME, and Windows NT.
Recommended by PC World, ConsumerSearch, and Dell, CounterSpy holds one of the highest effective ratings for spyware removal. It also received high marks from TopTenReviews (2006) for ease of use, customization/installation, and help/support. For only $19.95 per machine, users can receive a one year subscription with updates, upgrades, and technical support from real live humans. CounterSpy definitely provides ease of use and afford ability for just about any computer user from the novice to the expert.
The aggressive advertising and spying tactics demonstrated by some of these programs, require an equally aggressive response from a seasoned eradicator. Sunbelt Software is such a company. A leader in Anti-Spyware, Anti-Spam, Network Security and System Management tools, they gave consistently remained on the cutting-edge of anti-spyware programming since 1994.
One of their more notable software applications is CounterSpy 1.5. CounterSpy is designed to detect and remove spyware that is already in your computer system. Additionally, it provides real-time protection while preventing browser hijacking and changes to your computer’s Registry.
Other notable features include:
>>> Detection and Removal of Tracking Cookies – while it is true that applications like Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta are free, they do not include the ability to detect and remove tracking cookies like CounterSpy does.
>>> History Cleaner - erases any traceable trails left on your computer as you surf the Internet.
>>> Secure File Eraser - a powerful deletion tool that can completely eliminate all files you want removed from your computer including images, music, movies and applications.
>>> PC Explorer - allows you a look into files and areas that are normally inconvenient to access, such as your startup programs, browser helper objects, and ActiveX programs that are being downloaded or used.
>>> Support for Older Operating Systems – includes Windows 98SE, Windows ME, and Windows NT.
Recommended by PC World, ConsumerSearch, and Dell, CounterSpy holds one of the highest effective ratings for spyware removal. It also received high marks from TopTenReviews (2006) for ease of use, customization/installation, and help/support. For only $19.95 per machine, users can receive a one year subscription with updates, upgrades, and technical support from real live humans. CounterSpy definitely provides ease of use and afford ability for just about any computer user from the novice to the expert.
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