Shoestring Solutions

When you type that “www…” into your browser, a series of transactions occur to bring that web page to your computer. One of the first steps is that your request for a URL goes to a domain name server (usually provided by your service provider). The DNS server matches your “www…” with a unique Internet Protocol (IP) number, which is assigned to every computer connected to the Internet. Your page request is then routed to the correct server.

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Approximately 10,000 passwords were stolen from Hotmail and other web services, most likely through a phishing scam. In this case, web users were duped into going to a fake site and entering their login info. The info was published online by the scammers.

The analysis of the data proves what many already know, but few practice… your passwords should be complicated and hard to guess. A password with upper and lower case letters, numbers and at least one special character (!$&%<>) will provide much better protection. Never use a common name or series of numbers:

A researcher who examined 10,000 Hotmail, MSN and Live.com passwords that were recently exposed online has published an analysis of the list and found that “123456″ was the most commonly used password, appearing 64 times.

PI Newswire: Most Common Hotmail Password Revealed!

The Internet is a dangerous place. Be skeptical of everything; keep your antivirus up to date. Call us when you have a problem.

Internet imposters are perfecting the technique of impersonating friends on social networking sites like Facebook, with lucrative results. Victims are losing thousands of dollars. Emotional e-mail pleas sent by imposters, such as “I’m stuck in London and I’ve been robbed, help me,” have become so effective that the FBI last week issued a warning to consumers about social networking sites.

Facebook imposter scam a growing concern – The Red Tape Chronicles – MSNBC.com

Several recent industry articles report that we will continue to see a rise in the percentage of spam in overall email volumes:

• All Spammed Up reported "that spam has increased over 141% since March and also found that spam volumes grow by over 117 billion e-mails a day"
• McAfee has reported that in a little less than five months there has been a 140% increase in total spam volume. Reported causes are the 16% rise in botnet infections from Q1 2009 to Q2 2009. Many are also pointing a finger at the exploitation of social-networking sites for sending spam.
• MX Logic recently released their July 2009 Threat Forecast report claiming that "Spam as a percentage of overall mail has reached its highest point ever, currently accounting for 94.6 percent of all e-mail"

To protect yourself, we recommend just two things (besides a good antivirus program): Gmail or Google Apps for its spam-filtering (among many other reasons) and OpenDNS to protect your PC from bad stuff just in case you click on a bad link.

Almost without exception, malware infections and the subsequent theft of financial and other sensitive data by hackers occurs when a careless web browser visits an infected site or clicks a link to authorize the intrusion. The latter can be concealed in an email inviting the reader to “look at this pic” or watch a video.

The infection often includes a keylogger which records your every keystroke and sends it to the hacker without your knowledge. If your company does its online banking from that PC, your login info and account information is sent to the thieves who then clean out your account. U.S. banking laws protect private consumers from most losses, but businesses do not receive the same protections.

We strongly advise our clients—and especially our commercial clients—to restrict or prevent employees from using office computers for personal web browsing. Contact us for more information about how you can protect your office network from attack.

Slack Auto Parts in Gainesville, Ga…. recently was robbed of nearly $75,000. Slack Auto Parts co-owner Henry Slack said that between July 3 and July 7, cyber intruders used malware planted on the controller’s Windows PC. From there, they were able to break into the company’s bank accounts, create new user accounts at the bank, and then wire nine payments to at least six different money mules around the country.

Security Fix – The Growing Threat to Business Banking Online