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Richard Rossbauer's
SECURITY
ALERT BLOG
ARCHIVES July, August, September 09 Vital
Internet Security Alerts and
Information
for the everyday
Non-technical Computer user,
Internet
User and Web Surfer
who just wants
to be safe doing
basic stuff
without the hassle
of viruses, spyware, or worse.
I'm very
pleased that you're here today,
and that you're concerned about
your
computer security and family Internet Safety. I look forward to
your early
return to the Security Alert Blog.
Using the
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visit
again.
Thanks, Richard Rossbauer
(Read About Us)
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September 20, 2009
October is
National Cyber Security Awareness
Month -Are Your Prepared?
Why just October?
Shouldn't every month be devoted to Cyber Security - or
every week, maybe every day - how about every minute
spent online?
But human nature is what it is, and with so many
distractions from anything we may try to focus on, or
do, highlighting the urgency of Cyber Security with
banners proclaiming it as a special event can help
develop an awareness, and a habit for exercising
sufficient precaution.
That's the goal of the National Cyber Security
Alliance(*) and they promote it with sites like StaySafeOnine.org.
Content on this Website is
developed in cooperation with many partners including
government, industry, non-profit, and education partners.
Since the goal is increased education about and adoption
of cyber security practices, all of the content found at
StaySafeOnline.org may reproduced, if provided
for free, to educate the public on good cyber security
and safety practices.
I encourage everyone, young or older, to visit and
benefit from the wealth of information, tools,
guidelines, and just plain common sense presented there.
One of the best ways to minimize the threats associated
with the Internet is to be aware of them, know how to avoid
them, and how to recover from accidental entrapment by
cyber criminals.
Are you ready to help spread the word? By participating
in my Security Awareness campaign, you'll be helping
others stay safe, and in turn, help yourself.
Visit Stay Safe Online here
... Richard
Tag: (*) National Cyber Security Alliance
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September 13, 2009
It isn't
getting any easier to be safe while
Social networking
The September issue
of the Security Alert News Reporter has an excellent
article based on a report from Cloudmark Inc., (a
global leader in messaging security) that not only
covers the top 10 precautions your must consider, but
also...
...why it isn't getting any easier to avoid the
sophisticated methods being employed by cyber criminals
to penetrate your computer and mobile devices to place
all types of nasty malware in them.
These threats are being directed more and more toward those
of us who use and enjoy the tremendous communicating
capabilities of social networking.
How many people have a Twitter account, or Flickr,
MySpace, and Facebook?
(Facebook is a registered
trademark of Facebook, Inc.)
And these are just a tiny sample of the dozens of other
networking programs that make the benefits of Web2.0
such a pleasure - developing communities and sharing all
types of information with our friends - new and old.
And social networking creates
Millions of targets for the crooks! We are in their sights.
Here's the link to the article
www.richardpresents.com/security-newsletter-091409.html
There's also some good news for Facebook members -
especially for those who have expanded their use from
the desktop to their mobile devices.
Stop by and check it out the September
Security Alert News Reporter - your comments are more than
welcome.
...Richard
Tags:
 botnet,
 identity theft,
phishing,
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August 22, 2009 The
Unending flood of
SPAM has me really Ticked off!
Over the past few
weeks, my email inbox has been inundated with dozens and
dozens of unsolicited email messages EVERY bleeping Day.
The majority of these are attempts to sell money making
ideas, products, and work at home packages. Obviously a
result of the failed economy.
The balance are selling enhancement medicines. And they
don't all come form New Webbers (I don't care for the 'Newbies'
term).
Half of them do not have an unsubscribe option, and
those that do are often email addresses that lead
nowhere, lock up my email program, bounce back as
undeliverable, and worse yet, lead to yet another SPAM
message.
Unsubscribe links sometimes work, and the messages that
contain working unsubscribe links don't upset me as much
as when an 'unsubscribe' link on a enhancement site
simply leads to yet another promotion for more
medicines.
Of course there's always the threat of those unsubscribe
links being booby-trapped with malware. When not sure, I
hit the 'This is SPAM' button.
Trying to filter into a SPAM repository is a bit
dangerous because of the clever Subject lines that the
experienced SPAMMERS create.
I don't want to divert legitimate messages, so I'm
wasting a lot of time every day deleting these
intrusions on a one by one basis.
To relieve some of this aggravation, I sort my email
inbox entries either by email source, or by subject.
Then I simply do a block delete on the unrecognizable
senders' addresses or the repetitive Subject lines.
How are you handling your SPAM?
... Richard
Tags:
 spam,
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August 6, 2009
Image
Spam on the Increase
Image Spam is spam that carries its message in an image
to evade filtering based on text.
Independent researchers have noted these increases (as
posted by Sunbelt Software Company in their August 6th
post)
Read more here
http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/
Sunbelt Software has determined that the bulk of image
spam advertises Viagra and similar pills and comes from
computers in China, and in their Blog, they posted the
results found by other major security software providers
-
Symantecs Message Labs researchers said they found
eight to 10 percent of the spam they filtered in June
was image spam.
The Message Labs researchers said in May that 34 per
cent of unsolicited emails were image spam.
IBMs Internet Security System's X-Force said its
researchers found that 25 percent of spam was based on
images at the end of April.
You can bet that the cyber criminals are increasing this
method of malicious spamming because it's working.
Don't be too quick to click on unsolicited emails with
images, or you might be one of the people that image
spam traps.
... Richard
Tags:
spam,
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July
23, 2009
Don't
fall for the "Peep Hole Video" exploit
There are
many excellent alert services available online, among
them is the Sunbelt Software Company's "SunbeltBlog" at
http://sunbeltblog.blogspot.com/
I subscribe to it using their RSS feed (an email update service is
also available)
Today's alert includes mention of the nasty Spam about ESPN
reporter
Erin Andrews. You may already have heard about it.
Sunbelt warns that the Spam attempts to lure Internet users to
malicious web sites. The spam promises a "Peep hole"
video of Erin Andrews undressing in a hotel room.
The spam then delivers Zbot-like Trojans to both Macs and PCs. The
PC version then downloads rogue anti-malware and tells
you to buy it.
It could be worse - and maybe it is, so be warned that the curious surfer
can easily be trapped
Be cautious and careful, and you stand a better chance of being safe
... Richard
Tags:
spam, Trojans,
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July
20, 2009,
Current Updates for Internet Explorer and
Firefox browsers
Other than my email boxes being flooded more and more
with make money stuff every day, I seem to have been
passed over by the cyber criminal crews this past week,
or my security filters have been doing a fair job of
recognizing and diverting threats.
There is some important stuff, however, and it's the
same old cry - make sure you update your operating
systems with the patches from Microsoft - and-
Mozilla (Firefox).
Microsoft issues patches on their regular Patch Tuesday,
(the second Tuesday of each month). Even if you don't
use Internet Explorer for your everyday browsing, use it
to find and apply patches & updates.
Firefox 3.5, is Mozilla's popular browser. If you
are a Firefox user, you'll be alerted when updates
(including patches) are published. Updating is a Snap.
Be Alert - be safe - enjoy the season, and thanks for
following
my Security Alerts
... Richard
Tags:
basic safety practices,
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July
11, 2009
Symantec reports that there are more than 800,000
computer viruses and malware in circulation
A "Latest Security
Trends Media Day seminar was held in Seoul, Korea, in
June, 2009. In the seminar, Cho Jun-yong, Technical
Product Manager of Symantec revealed in his presentation
that Symantec has identified more than 800 thousand
viruses and pieces of malware from big online shopping,
game, news, travel and even government sites.
Pretty hard to avoid - right? So How can you keep your
computer safe from all of this?
Obviously, the safest way is to never turn it on. The
next safest way is never use the Internet.
These statement aren't really as dumb as they may sound
because one of those 800,000 threats will definitely
infiltrate any computer that has no anti-virus software,
or even out of date AV software, no firewall, and an
Operating System that has never been, or hasn't recently
been updated.
Symantec Company's Mr. Cho went on to say that ... I
recommend you to use passwords with a mixture of
characters and numbers and make up unique passwords
for
your banking and email. When you visit sites, give your
attention to the installation of Active X, links,
advertisements and information. If you are not sure
about the messages in your email, you need to be certain
of its contents by asking for assistance from an
expert.
These suspicious email messages can appear to come from
'reliable or authentic' sites, like the one I received
today purporting to be from the IRS advising me that I
was eligible for (another) tax refund, and all I had to
do was download a pdf file of a payment form, fill in
the requested information and submit it.
IRS does not send emails to taxpayers with this kind of
information, so I visited the Internal Revenue Service
site at http://www.irs.gov/ , located the address to
report phishing, copied the suspicious email and
forwarded it to the IRS fraud department at phishing@irs.gov.
Sure, I'd like another refund, and the email certainly
appeared to be official, and there are probably
thousands of unsuspecting Internet users who will bite
on this bait.
Don't be one of them.
...Richard
Tags: virus removal,
phishing,
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Don't
hesitate to express
your views and opinions on my Security Alert Blog and Cyber
Security Alert postings (easily done by clicking on
the highlighted 'COMMENT' |
at each post. Watch for postings on fraud alerts,
virus alerts, worm alerts, Internet Security alerts, security scams,
parental controls, online predators, net security, and more. Be sure to visit our
Firewalls-and-Virus Protection website for even more help |
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Evergreen
Free report -
"Avoiding Current Security Threats"
There are still some unresolved issues with the
Conficker worm.
As of this writing,(July 11, 2009)the worm, which started spreading to
millions of
computers last year, appears to be turning its infected
hosts into servers for e-mail spam, and some Denial
of Service attacks, security experts
recently reported.
Apparently, the payload has been made more of a threat
by adding a a version of My Doom, and a second virus, called Waledac which
adds infected computers to botnets which send out e-mail
spam.
And yet a third virus carried by Conficker prompts
infected PC owners to purchase a fake (rogue software)
anti-virus program called
Spyware Protect 2009 for $49.95. (Don't
fall for it!)
But you can take steps to avoid these security threats,
and I have outlined them in a new report you can have
for
Free.
This report is an update and a bit of an overview of the
information published in my newsletters, blog and
websites.
It covers the basics of what to look for and
how to prepare your computer to avoid the next high risk
threat. It's a quick download (PDF file) which you
can obtain by going to the registration page and leaving
your email address so that the download instructions can
be sent to your email inbox.
Get Free Report here and share this web address with
your friends so the emails you get from them are clean
and free of malware.
http://www.richardpresents.com/avoid-threat-registration.html
...Richard
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Evergreen
Please accept our
INVITATION
to Help Parents
Teach Their Kids to be Safe Surfers
an Invitation to Help other Parents, Grandparents and Guardian by Sharing Your
Experiences of
Teaching Your Children To Be Safe When
They Were learning to Surf the Internet.
Please
Tell Us
About It HERE |
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Evergreen
Update your Emergency Virus Protection program
 If
you don't have your Virus Protection program yet, here's an
Emergency Step you should take,
Right Now!
McAfee offers a FREE Virus Scanning program named
STINGER.
It has grown in size a little over the past few years and no longer fits on a single floppy Disk.
But so many of the newer PCs, including lap tops don't have a "A" floppy
drive anyway, you should burn it to a CD or memory stick for an offline back up tool.
You can use it as we do, to check
any of your PC computers for viruses, without being on line.
It is an 'After the Fact' application, which means that it does not scan
incoming email files, attachments or downloads, but it does scan whatever
you have already received online.
It currently checks, and repairs over 200 recent viruses. It's FREE
to download from
McAfee
STINGER
Stinger
- Latest Version
Updated July 6, 2009
... Richard
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More Tags: Internet Safety Rules,
kids
Internet safety , parenting teenagers,
cyberbullying,
spam,
Firewalls,
Keyloggers,
Disaster Recovery,
botnet,
identity theft,
phishing,
 teen age bloggers,
Trojans,
 virus removal, anti spyware,
 spyware
Conficker,
virus removal,
anti spyware, Rogue
software
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POSTS for
CURRENT
WEEK
Sep 20, 2009
Sep 13, 2009
Aug 22, 2009
Aug 6, 2009
July 23, 2009
July
20, 2009
July 11, 2009
EVERGREEN
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