You just gotta love it…

* Loss from cybercrime exceeded $1.3B in 2016, FBI report

“The financial loss from cybercrime in the U.S. exceeded $1.3 billion in 2016, a rise of 24 percent, according to a new report issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).” Read more..

And remember gang –> that’s ONLY what was reported to the FBI. Think “tip of the iceberg”. (And, only USA losses.. How much global?)

* Google Gets Record-Breaking $2.7 Billion Fine for Manipulating Search Results

“Google has just lost its biggest regulatory battle! Google has been hit with a record-breaking $2.7 billion (€2.42 billion) fine by the European antitrust officials for unfairly manipulating search results since 2008. After a lengthy seven-year investigation that was launched in 2010..” Read more..

.. “since 2008” .. HA! Try, “since Google”. And don’t think Google’s going to pay that fine — the advertisers are. Be smart. Bail out now people.

* Judy Android malware unleashes massive attack on Google Play Store (NOTE! it wasn’t an ‘attack’.. the criminal hackers ‘poisoned’ the site with infected apps.)

“When it comes to apps for mobile devices, InfoSec experts will always recommend downloading from official vendors like the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. While these sites are much more stringent in their standards for malicious app prevention, there are always exceptions (which require the consumer to use common sense).” Read more..

OMG. Too funny. “require people use common sense” ..!

Sad part is.. that ‘attack’ netted tons of cash with automated click fraud (do you advertise? Look up the term ‘click fraud’ NOW!)

ALERT: New Petya ransomware variant attacking computers worldwide

“Following the high profile WannaCry attack merely a month ago, we have detected another ransomware outbreak that is spreading rapidly across the globe. It appears to be a new variant of the known Petya ransomware, also known as Petna, and it has already affected many high profile companies and government institutions across Europe and currently shows no sign of slowing down.” Read more..

And: Six quick facts to know about today’s global ransomware attack

“This is what you need to know — right now.” Read more..

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* And you better believe — my ‘page views’ will take yet another hit for posting this.

Today’s quote: “In view of the fact that God limited the intelligence of man, it seems unfair that He did not also limit his stupidity.” ~ Konrad Adenauer

Copyright 2007-2017 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Use Spotify? Be aware..

Folks, yet another item to know about.

* Spotify serving malicious ads to freemium users

“Several Spotify users are reporting that the streaming music service is serving malware to its users through its advertiser network. Users on company’s user forum noted that ads running on Spotify Free, the streaming music service’s free product, automatically open malicious websites without their permission.” Read more..

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Today’s quote: “You can always count on Americans to do the right thing – after they’ve tried everything else.” ~ Winston Churchill

Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

And today it’s Linux’s turn .. (sigh)

I gotta stop paying attention to the tech news… :(

* Linux rootkit, named for Pokémon’s Umbreon, targets Linux

“A new rootkit family, dubbed Umbreon after a character in the popular Pokémon game who hides in the night, has been detected targeting Linux users, according to a Monday post by Trend Micro researchers.” Read more..

[ Don’t know what a “rootkit” is? You really should by now. No excuse, actually. Go to Wikipedia right now! ]

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Today’s quote: “Since our society equates happiness with youth, we often assume that sorrow, quiet desperation, and hopelessness go hand in hand with getting older. They don’t. Emotional pain or numbness are symptoms of living the wrong life, not a long life.” ~ Martha Beck

Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Windows Owners Be Aware of this Latest Threat!

An ALERT! for you folks who own Microsoft Windows PC’s. And you should know by now, “ransomware” is that (type of) hacker virus that makes you pay to get your files back. Please pass this item on to your friends and loved ones.

* New ‘Fantom’ Ransomware Poses As Windows Update

“Fantom malware comes disguised as a legitimate Microsoft Windows update to trick consumers and business users into downloading it.” Read more..

And.. to counteract all the bad news in the tech world, how about a dose of relief? (And yes folks, there’s enough of it that I am becoming thoroughly ‘anti-technology’ :( .)

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Today’s quote: “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo Buscaglia

Yes. I’ve posted that one before. But, be honest, it’s easy to let this slip one’s mind.
We can’t let it.

Copyright 2007-2015 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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All we really have, in the end, are our stories.
Make yours great ones. Ones to be proud of.

Fighting the advertisers | Canadian Elections Hacked?

Folks,
The good people at WordPress (who ‘host’ this site) have “reminded” me that it is time for me to renew the payment for the $30/yr “No ads” option. So I am going to do something today I have not done in the 4+ years I have been doing daily writing here.

So, if you appreciate my efforts here and/or appreciate the fact that there are no sales pitches or advertising and/or want to let advertisers know they are not welcome and/or simply feel like it, please donate any amount you might wish to the cause by clicking on the “donate” widget in my side column (the one that nobody ever notices)

Since not all of you are viewing this site in a format that shows the sidebars, here is the button.

Say “thank you!” Buy Tech Paul a cup of coffee (and keep T4E ad free).

Thank you for your attention. And don’t worry, I haven’t made a dime doing this writing, and that fact hasn’t stopped me yet.. so – no worries.

(If 30 of you each pitch in a buck, then at least it won’t cost me to keep the dang ads away… ha!)

News update: (Just in) It seems that the online voting in Canada has been attacked by hackers.. this was posted 2 minutes ago: NDP leadership voting delayed by outside attack

“…outside attack on its online voting system created the delays that have plagued voting for the NDP leadership Saturday, senior party official Brad Lavigne says.

Lavigne says the system was not hacked and the integrity of votes cast has not been compromised. But the attack delayed third-round voting when the system had to be restarted, he said.” Read more..

Yes. The Internet. It’s so convenient, let’s put everything online! (Never mind it is unsecured..)

Sorry to put my hand out.. Have a great weekend everybody!

Copyright 2007-2012 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Something to think about….

Sometimes.. a new paint job just doesn’t cover up the fact your car is still a clunker..

Attackers Divert Bank Phone Calls to Cover Tracks

(You really should read this – it’ll open your eyes – but I warn you.. the state of things is depressing. But, facts is facts, as they say.)

Researchers at Trusteer uncover banking malware that steals telephone information to help attackers re-route calls from banks alerting customers to fraud.

“A new version of a sneaky piece of banking malware has been armed with a new feature to help attackers cover their tracks. According to Trusteer, certain new configurations of Ice IX – a modified variant of the Zeus platform – are capturing telephone account information belonging to their victims. The goal is to enable the attackers to divert calls from banks that are intended for the customer to telephones controlled by the attacker…

In one attack observed by researchers at Trusteer, the malware stole the victim’s user ID and password as well as their secret question answer, date of birth and account balance at login. In the second phase of the attack, the victim is asked to update their home, mobile and work telephone information and select the name of their service provider from a…” Read more..

Yes folks, the “cyber mafia” is sophisticated, and .. to quote a certain Congressperson, “the biggest threat to National Security we are facing”.

You should read that article – learn about “man-in-the-browser” and then think about it.. IMHO. But, sorry to depress you. They are out to get you, so please, let’s use a little “paranoid common sense” out there.

On a lighter note..

Today’s quote: “I like nonsense, it wakes up the brain cells. Fantasy is a necessary ingredient in living, it’s a way of looking at life through the wrong end of a telescope. Which is what I do, and that enables you to laugh at life’s realities.” ~ Theodore Geisel (aka “Dr. Seuss”)

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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Your files have been encrypted–send $100 for the key

“ATTENTION!!!!!! YOUR PERSONAL FILES WERE ENCRYPTED WITH A STRONG ALGORYTHM RSA-1024 AND YOU CAN’T GET AN ACCESS TO THEM WITHOUT MAKING OF WHAT WE NEED!”

An item in the news has spurred me to interrupt the series on ‘when it’s time for a new computer’, which I’ll resume tomorrow. An article in Newsweek calls this a “new” phenomenon, but I assure you it is not — it even has a name: ransomware.

As my loyal readers know, I am constantly advising security, security, security! I have a “thing” … I detest digital Evil Doers.

Ransomware is a type of worm and/or Trojan horse that runs a RC4 encryption algorithm on your hard drive. This ‘scrambles’ your files and makes them unreadable … unless you have the ‘key’. The malware leaves several (readable) read_me.txt files which tell you what has happened, and where to send money to buy the key. Your data held hostage. Without the key, all you have is gibberish. Without paying the ransom, you have no key. Or, that’s the idea anyway.

What this means to you is that it is more important than ever to have an off-machine backup and up-to-date malware protections in place. You do have a recovery backup … don’t you??? Please click this link to read my article on creating backups. It is important to understand that what this piece of code does (and this is true of most malware), it does, or tries to do, to every drive it can find. That means every storage device attached to your computer, such as the hypothetical drive “E:\” in the ‘how to auto-backup’ article, will get scrambled. If you store your backup (and/or backup image) on a partition, or USB attached hard drive, it is effectively gone as a result.

Tip of the day: I will reiterate, because it’s so gosh-durned important, that you should store a recovery backup in two locations; usually this means two different storage media types. In this case I’m referring to CD’s or DVD’s.
I use a 3rd party “disk imaging” application (I happen to have got a deal on Norton Ghost [free after rebate], but my reco is Acronis True Image) which automatically breaks the system backup into disk-sized pieces. But you do not need such a program; you can use your zip program (see today’s free link) to do the same thing to a Windows Backup.bkp file. It will take several disks, so be sure to stock up.

If you have Windows Vista/Win 7 Home Premium or Ultimate Edition, you have a powerful system backup utility (built in) that will copy a recovery backup to disk, or other storage, that works through an easy to follow wizard. And you also have a delightful command line imaging tool called Ximage that I suggest you look into.

The main point I want to get across is that if you should, one day, discover that some Evil Doer has scrambled your files and wants money to descramble them, DO NOT SEND THEM MONEY. RC4 can be broken. You usually can find the password (the ‘key’) posted on the Internet, and use it to get your files back. You also should take a seriously critical look at your Internet protection apps … either you didn’t have them, or they let you down. Fix that.

If this happened to me, I wouldn’t bother with trying to decrypt my files. I wouldn’t trust that the Trojan wasn’t still lurking, (possibly as a rootkit) ready to pull the same stunt again and demand another ransom. I would format my hard drive and boot my first recovery CD and restore my system from the backup. This backup would not contain the trojan, because I make system recovery DVDs once a month, nor my most recent files … those I would recover from a network drive, or live without.

So. You do have a system backup, right?

Today’s free download: there are many zip utilities out there, and Windows comes with a “compressed folder” zip tool (right-click > Send to > Compressed folder), and selecting one is a matter of taste. They all do basically the same thing: take a big file (or folder) and run a compression algorithm to make them smaller (“zipped”). Some are free and some are for sale – typically under $20. The free zip tool I use is 7-Zip. It has all the features you need, and actually does compress.

* Orig post: 8/14/07

Bonus (for reading this far): Get A Great Paid Android App For FREE Every Day by Ramblinrick

“After getting my tablet PC, the Toshiba Thrive, I was excited and motivated to learn more about the Android Operating System and the apps that are available. If you know me and follow my blog, you know that the blog predominantly features FREE software. When I started using my tablet PC I soon discovered that..” Read more..

Today’s quote: “Families are like fudge – mostly sweet with a few nuts.” ~ Unknown

Copyright 2007-2011 © “Tech Paul” (Paul Eckstrom). All Rights Reserved.

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