Amazingly Dangerous Email: Must See To Believe
Amazon.com (Evil) Deal of the Day
Folks, I just received an amazing (and dangerous) e-mail that my phishing filter/spam catcher did not catch – claiming to come from Amazon.com as one of my “notification subscriptions” –> Amazon’s Deal of the Day. It looks identical to my real notifications but…
every single link is dangerous, and they’re pushing ED drugs! These hyperlinks really take you to websites titled “http:\\######.fishenough.ru”. Seriously! (.ru = Russia)
Do I need tell you what will happen should you click a single link? Nothing good, I assure you!!!
Here’s more..
What are those red warning signals? They are automatically inserted by a tool I have installed on my machine, see, Why You Want WOT.
I kind of admire the craftsmanship that went into this.. this.. criminal attack. It fooled me for a while. But, sheeze: anyone else wonder how come these guys are still getting away with this? And maybe.. a bit fed up with it?
Are you listening, cyber czar?
Copyright 2007-2010 © Tech Paul. All Rights Reserved. 
post to jaanix.
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Tips For Safe Online Shopping*
I think it is a pretty safe bet that quite a few of you are doing some last minute holiday shopping.. and that some of you are going to use the Internet to do some of that shopping.
I would like to remind you that there is a healthy, active, and well-financed underworld of cyber-criminals who are well-aware of the fact that the next few days are prime credit card and “identity” theft opportunities, and are going to be particularly active in trying to GET YOU.
You will see an increase in spam, and bogus pop-opens that tell you you are infected when you’re not. (Note: The phraudulent Skype alert is active again, too. see Skype — “Windows Requires Immediate Attention”.. Not! )
I am posting the following Basic Internet Shopping Tips in the hopes that Tech–for Everyone readers will not join the 9 million Americans who had their identities stolen last year.
- Download Software Updates — Regularly!
- Use Complex Passwords (include numerals and @#$%^&*[])
- Use Onetime Credit Cards
- Verify Secure Connections See that little padlock symbol at the bottom of your screen, and in the URL address bar?
- Check Your Credit
- Enter Your Shopping Site’s Web Address Manually (embedded links=no!)
- Shop From Your Own computer (not a public ‘hotspot’)
- Enable your browser’s phishing filter, or install a add-on. (such as the super-easy WOT toolbar)
- Don’t Send Credit Card Information Over E-mail. Even if you think it’s secure. Don’t send it over IM either. If you feel uncomfortable about sending personal information online, call up the business.
I would like to direct your attention to the first bulletpoint. The programs on your computer need to be fully “patched” with the latest updates, as exploiting weaknesses is the primary method hackers use to infect your machines. (You visit a website that they’ve ‘poisoned’, and if you have an unpatched ‘hole’, bingo – you’re infected.)
How do you know if you have the latest updates? For all your installed programs? Do you think you are patched? Don’t guess. Be sure!
Today’s free link+download: Secunia offers a tool that I highly recommend. The online scanner (which you should bookmark, btw) will scan your machine for roughly 100 programs and tell you if there is a patch/update you need. If you go this route, you will need to visit once or twice a week.)
Better yet, they offer a download, a Personal Edition, which will scan your system against a database of over 7,000 programs.
Even better yet, it includes direct download links to the missing patches it finds.
I just ran it and it found an old ActiveX plug in, and told me that my Java Runtime Environment was out of date.. and I didn’t think I had installed JRE on this machine!
Further reading:
Computer Security – Time to Think About It
A Teen Texting Trend All Parents Should Be Aware Of
Copyright 2007-8 © Tech Paul. All rights reserved. post to jaanix
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• About Tech Paul
I am a Retired computer & network technician. I used to think the machines were pretty cool. Now I don’t.
They’re anything but.
I regularly posted how-to’s and tricks & tips and general computing advice here starting in 2007. (Use the Search tool to find answers. But be aware, many are rather dated.) Sometimes I answered (your) specific questions in an article if I believed the answer was generally helpful to “everyone”. All the writing you see was my own, typos and all. There always is/was an implied “IMHO” in what you see here.
Note: You are responsible for using this blog and its content. I am in no way liable for any losses caused by user error, viruses and/or other malware, hardware or software failure, or any other conceivable reason.
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McAfee® Cybersafety Resource Portal, an online help center designed to assist victims of computer crime and provide information on how to avoid becoming a victim.
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