Security
The Scammers are Back at it in Austin
The phone calls continue to come, so be aware – if someone calls you claiming to be from “Microsoft” to help you with a problem they have detected on you computer, hang up. I received a call today from someone who unfortunately didn’t see what I posted in June (http://goo.gl/zhlnn) about getting this phone call, and he followed their instruction and downloaded a file per their instructions. Fortunately he hesitated when they offered to sell him further services and asked for his credit card number, but damage was done and he is infected.
Microsoft will NEVER call you unless you contact them first AND you give them your phone number. If they sounds new to you, click the link above and read my post from June. Don’t get suckered.
Check Your Facebook Security (Yes, AGAIN!)
Facebook is almost evil for how they are always mucking around with your security settings. I checked mine and what do you know? They had changed! Things that were once marked for Friends (or my eyes) only were now marked “Everyone”. So whether you’re reading this directly on my blog (tek-chic.com/blog), on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin or Google+, go NOW to your Facebook page and click the down arrow in 
the upper right corner and click on “Privacy Settings”. This will take you to a page (that has changed since I was last there) and go through each and every item to make sure it is STILL what your thought it was. I recommend you keep most things to your “Friends”. Making information about yourself to “Friends of Friends” or worse “Everyone” makes more information about you available to the world than you probably would like if we ran through it line by line.
Facebook makes its money by selling YOU, literally. Information about you is worth money and the more information about you they can sell, the happier they are. Take control of your personal privacy and check those settings now.
Our Favorite Day of the Month is Here! Hooray!
Want to avoid getting viruses and other malware? Then keep your software up to date. It’s the second Tuesday of the month, and that means Microsoft is pushing updates to its operating systems and other software. Windows XP users look for the yellow shield. Windows Vista and Windows 7 users look for the blue logo. If your computer doesn’t automatically update, you’ll see those icons in your task tray (in the lower right corner usually) The orange/brown icon is for Java, and the red icon is Adobe Acrobat 
Reader. You may not see these icon in the next day or two, but you’ll see them at some point so be aware of them when they do. These indicate FIXES to security problems that have been discovered. They update quickly, so don’t click on “remind me later” or anything like that, just do the update and stay safe. The same goes for Adobe Flash, when you get the message that looks like the image to the left (often right after you start your computer) by all means perform the update.
Posted in Security | Tags: 2nd Tuesday of the month, Adobe Flash, Adobe Reader, Windows update | 
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Don’t Get Scammed Into Giving Away Passwords
An attentive client of mine forwarded me an email asking if it were legitimate. I realize that I sometimes impart a sense of paranoia onto my clients because there are so many bad guys trying to fine a way into their computers, but it this case, their caution was justified. Here is the email they received:
No one you do business should EVER ask you to verify your password over email (or frankly even over the phone but sometimes they do.) The email was bogus and NOT from Yahoo, had my client replied and provided the information the bad guys would now have full access to their email account. That would be a HUGH problem, if you don’t know why, then read my article from June on “Why You MUST Protect Your Email Account”.
Never disclose any password via email, it’s never legit.
Got Carbonite? Know Your Password?
The great thing about Carbonite (the very best online backup service) is that once you’ve installed it you can forget about it. The PROBLEM with Carbonite is that once you install it you DO forget about it. Hopefully if you’re a regular reader of my blog you know about and HAVE Carbonite on your computer (if you don’t read last month’s article “Crisis and Carbonite”, then come back here.)
I encountered several clients recently who either had new computes or needed to restore data and surprise – they didn’t know their password! No problem, because when you forget your password, Carbonite will send you a link that will then ask you your three secret questions that you can answer and then reset your password. Well guess what? Every one of them had not only forgotten their password, they forgot the answer to at least one if not all three of their secret questions! Really!
So give yourself a test. Go right now to Carbonite.com and click the “log in” link in the upper right corner of the web site. From there it’s real simple, just enter your email address and your password. If you know your information, you’ll be logged in and you’re good. If not…. then you now know why I’m writing this. After clicking on the “Log in” link, click the link that says “forgot password”. There you will enter your email address and they will send you a link. Click the link in the email and you will be taken to the web site and have to answer your three secret questions. If you FAIL to answer correctly, try again – but after three attempts if you fail you will have to wait 30 minutes before trying again.
At this point it’s clear you don’t know the answers and you’ll need to call Carbonite’s support center during normal business hours and convince them that you are you and they will assist.
When you change your password, make sure it’s a STRONG password and make sure you document it somewhere in case you forget (I recommend you download LastPass, but that’s another article.)
Verizon is Selling Your Information to Marketers
If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer, you might want to opt-out of their program that lets marketers know where you’ve been, your gender, sites you’ve browsed on your phone, even what restaurants you seem to like – pretty much anything they can glean from your phone. PC World has an article detailing it including the link to Verizon’s Privacy Policy. I think it’s just a little ironic that the company that quietly changed their privacy policy to divulge more information about you starts its privacy policy with “Verizon is committed to protecting your privacy”. Though Verizon says it won’t provide personally identifiable information, seems to me they will be providing enough that it won’t be hard to figure out. Here’s the link to PC World’s article: http://bit.ly/TekChic0415
Posted in News, Security, Smartphones/Tablets | Tags: personal information, privacy, Verizon wireless | No Comments »
It’s the 2nd Tuesday of the Month, Do You Know Where Your Updates Are?
In case you’re new to my blog, the 2nd Tuesday of the month is when Microsoft pushes updates to its Windows operating system down to your computer. These updates aren’t to make it prettier, it’s to fix security holes that have been discovered.
Throughout the month you will also get updates from Adobe for Acrobat Reader and for Flash, as well as from Sun for Java. When you see one of these icons you need to heed the warning and update your computer. 
Within DAYS the bad guys will be looking for computers that have NOT fixed and will try to exploit any vulnerabilities. Don’t get caught – keep your software up to date.
Posted in Security | Tags: 2nd Tuesday of the month, Flash, Java, Security Update, Windows | No Comments »
Tek-Chic Systems Being Interviewed Tomorrow on “Security in a Digital World”
Wednesday morning at 10:00 (Central time) I’ll be interviewed by Angela Ploetz, owner and founder of “ARedBench.com”, a company dedicated to helping small businesses make the most of their resources. “Security in a Digital World” is the theme, and I’ll be talking about the basics of computer security, avoiding viruses, If you would like to listen to the interview, you can read more and sign up at http://www.aredbench.com/calendar.php
Your $1,000 Wal-Mart Card is shipping today!
You get the email with the above subject line. Hello??? You’re not REALLY going to click on the links in the email are you? You don’t REALLY think there is a $1,000 gift card waiting for you do you? If you’re already a client of mine, I hope not – you should know better. I’ve already told you “DON’T click on links” in email unless you know WHO they are from and you’re EXPECTING it. People ask me “How did I get this virus?” but they won’t admit that they clicked on an email like this. I’m telling you now – THIS is how you get a virus. You click the link – it takes you to a web site and the next day you’re calling me telling me you THINK you have a virus.
Well, I KNOW you have a virus. Please don’t fall for these scams. At the least they want control of your computer, at the worst they want your financial information. Either way it’s going to cost you time and money.
The bad guys are always coming up with new ways to get you to click on a link or open an attachment. Don’t fall for it and you’ll be happier in the long run. Below is the version I received (with the links disabled… )
Your $1,000 WalMart Card is shipping today.
Confirm shipping information here.
-Use it at any Walmart® location
-Works the same as cash, never expires!
-Get the latest games, electronics, home accessories, and more
Confirm shipping information ASAP:
click here.
Look What’s Coming to Town?
Nope, it’s not Santa on his sleigh, it’s this month’s updates from Microsoft. Within the next 24 hours you’ll probably see the yellow shield (if you’re running Windows XP) or the blue icon (for Vista and Windows 7) down in your task tray. Those icons means there are updates that need to be installed. Click on the icon to update your computer. Adobe will also be updating it’s Reader software with an IMPORTANT security update, so be sure you do it. Whenever you see the brown Java icon you need to be sure to update that as well. Most of the viruses I see these days get in because the Java on the computer wasn’t updated and the bad guys got in though an exposed security flaw. Remember, you can patch it now or pay me later so don’t put it off.
Be Careful Who You’re “Friends” With
Fox Business has an interesting article about how con artists are using social networking sites like Facebook to separate you from your money. They “friend” someone, then get them to invest and make sure they get lots of money back – then get them to tell their friends, and they take all the friends money. Good idea to be aware of this: http://fxn.ws/TekChic0404
Crisis and Carbonite
The fire in Steiner Ranch (the community where I and many of my clients live in the NW Austin area) really drove home the need for off-site (these days usually online) backup. 24 homes here were completely destroyed by fire. When I say completely, that includes anything that may have been on a computer and even on an external backup drive there in the home. They are gone – along with any digital photos of kids at their first birthday, first day of school or even graduation. Also gone are any school or work-related documents, presentation, etc.
We’ve been back in our homes 24 hours since the mandatory evacuation and one of my clients called me today with three neighbors who wanted Carbonite on their computer to protect their data.
So what is Carbonite and what is “online backup”? For a full explanation of backup strategy, please read my monthly article from last October titled 3-2-1 Backup. Online backup is getting a copy of your data files (documents, photos, music, files YOU create) out of your home and onto a server off-site so that it’s safe in the event of something like robbery or fire. Homeowners of the 24 destroyed home don’t have to worry about the information on their computers if they had Carbonite. Carbonite would have continuously been monitoring their system and securely (as in encrypted so no one could snoop) uploaded their data to secure servers where it would be safely stored until needed. There are of course things more important, and I don’t want to minimize the extent of their tragic loss – I just want to address the tech aspects of the disaster. Once you replace your computer, then you can log into your Carbonite account and RESTORE all your lost data. Your photos, music and documents that otherwise would have been lost.
When I evacuated I didn’t worry about my data – I just pulled the plug on my computers to protect them from the power surge when the power returned and walked out of the house with my dogs and a few personal items (things I truly couldn’t replace or needed.) I knew I could get all my data back later from Carbonite if my house burnt down (thankfully it didn’t.)
Carbonite is only $59 a year. It automatically backs up all your data. If you can push the button to turn on your computer, and it is connected to the Internet, then your data is safe. You don’t have to run a special program or have any special knowledge. As a bonus, your data is available to you from any computer you use. If you’re away from home and want (or need) a file that was on your home computer, you can log onto Carbonite and access your files online.
I only wrote this post because it seemed evident this was a concern among computer users faced with the very REAL possibility of losing what was on their computers. I hadn’t done so up to this point because the last thing I wanted was to have it appear as an exploited attempt to take advantage of a bad situation (frankly I’m a horrible salesperson.) So like I said earlier, Carbonite is only $59 a year. If you think I’m taking advantage of circumstances, then just go to Carbonite’s web site and sign up directly through them. Otherwise, give me a call and I’ll take care of you for the very same $59. You can set it up yourself or allow me to do it – either way the cost is the same to you (allowing me to do it puts a couple of dollars a year onto my table.) But whatever you do – PLEASE make sure you have some kind of off-site backup. I’ve set up many clients with an onsite backup system involving an external have drive and software that performs the backup at a specified time – but often I’ve sadly discovered that the external drives hadn’t been used for months, meaning the computer hadn’t been backed up for months. And even with an external drive there in the home, that doesn’t protect you from fire or theft (if they take the computer, they’ll take the external drive too.)
So call me and get some peace of mind over those digital memories. In a disaster, you have enough to worry about – just walk away from your computer, take care of more important things and let Carbonite take care of your data.
Posted in Monthly Articles, Security | Tags: Carbonite, disaster, fires, online backup | No Comments »
Protect Your Android Phone With SeekDroid – Free Today at the Amazon App Store
SeekDroid is normally $.99, but today you can get it free at the Amazon App Store. SeekDroid will let you track your phone on a map if you misplaced it, sound an alarm to help locate it, and if necessary you can lock the phone with a new code and even wipe the phones memory and SD card to protect your data. One cool feature is that it will also show you the most recent calls made on the phone. If your phone was stolen and they made calls you can see the numbers. It’s easy to use and with the price of a replacement phone costing between $400-$600, even $.99 is a no-brainer. If you have an Android phone and you’re reading this the day I post it then you can get it for free.
Posted in Deals, Security, Smartphones/Tablets | Tags: android, lost phone, phone recovery, security, SeekDroid | No Comments »
Spam of the Week – PayPal Phishing
This week’s SPAM OF THE WEEK is a phishing attempt to get you to open an attachment. You received an email that says an email address (that of course you’ve never heard of) has been added to your PayPal account. This is meant to scare you into wanting to protect your account and get you to open the attachment. The attachment is a form only asking for your name, contact info, birthdate, s-s-n and credit card info. What could they possibly do with any of that information?
First, anytime you get a message that something is wrong with one of your accounts, if you believe it’s legitimate go DIRECTLY to the web site in your web browser, DO NOT use a link in the email to get to the site. Bad guys are out there – don’t get fooled by them!
“Dear Paypal Customer,
You have added frankie_bel22@hotmail.com as a new email address for your Paypal account.
If you did not authorize this change, check with family members and others who may have
access to your account first. If you still feel that an unauthorized person has changed
your email, submit the form attached to your email in order to keep your original email
and restore your Paypal account.
If you are using Internet Explorer please allow ActiveX for scripts to perform all data transfers
securely.
Thank you for using Paypal !”
Lady Gaga found dead in hotel room? Beware Facebook clickjacking scam
That’s right – Lady Gaga is alive and well all you little monsters, so DON’T you click on it and follow the link. If you follow the link what will happen is that it will do what is known as a “clickjack” – you think you’re clicking on one thing but it’s really something else. If you follow the link and attempt to play the video, you’re actually “liking” the post and therefore sending it to all your friends on Facebook. That’s how these things spread. It’s also not know if there is malware being sent to your computer, so just be careful and REMOVE the post from your wall (you can just click on the faint “x” on the right of the post.)