New Year's Resolution Challenge - Change your Passwords

New Year's Resolution Challenge - Change your Passwords

Happy Holidays!

I’ve got a geeky suggestion for one of your 2017 New Year’s resolutions: Make a commitment to change all your online passwords to something unique and complex. 

“Oh, what a pain!” you may say.  And yes, it is.  But it just may save you from an even more painful hack of your account. 

Weak Password, Easier Hack
Cybercrooks take advantage of weak passwords to hack a variety of accounts from email to banking to social networking sites.  And if they hack a vault of online passwords that includes one of your accounts, you are vulnerable even if you have a strong password. (But as long as that compromised password is unique, the creeps won’t be able to access your other accounts.) 

So, to reduce the risk of making your accounts an easy exploit, do these two things:

1. Make sure each password you have is unique, that is, don’t use the same password for any two or more accounts. The password for each of your email accounts, your computer login, your phone, tablet, social networking accounts, financial accounts, etc. should be exclusive.  

2. Make each password complex.  I recommend at least 12 characters, with a mix of letters, numbers, and characters like # or * o ^.  You can also use a phrase as a password, such as Ilovemilkandcookies.  But make the “I’ a “1”, the “m” in milk an “M” and the “s” in cookies a “$”.  You can also use a random password generator, like the one at this site: 

https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm.  (In this case, you can just pick out the number of characters you’d like to use, such as 8, 10, or 12 from the character string.)

Password vault
How to keep track of your new, brain-boggling password system? Use a password manager like lastpass.com.  

For heaven’s sake do not keep the passwords on your phone in a notes file.  If someone breaks into your phone, it’s game over. They will "own" you. 

If you’re old school, you can type or write the passwords on paper, then store in a locked safe or very safe place.  Share the location with a trusted person.  (If you want to up your game, you can also encrypt the file on your computer containing your password list.)

Break down the job
This password management task may seem daunting. So in the New Year (or earlier for you fast starters) just commit to changing one password each week, starting with your online financial accounts.  

Wishing you safe computing this holiday season and in 2017.

Thanks for reading.

Sam

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Ransomware is Infecting the Aloha State too

Ransomware is Infecting the Aloha State too

Ransomware attacks are escalating, as indicated in various recent news reports. 

But this is not just happening "out there", somewhere else, like on the mainland or overseas. One of my small business clients on Hawaii Island was hit last week by a ransomware attack. 

Email link from Hell 

My client had clicked on a bogus email link*, then his computer was infected. The infection encrypted his files, effectively locking them up. 

He got a note from the criminals promising to unlock his files if he paid the equivalent of $450 in bitcoin. He consulted with me and we decided to not pay. 

His rationale? He had all his files backed up online. Plus he wanted to set up a new computer anyways, so he proceeded to download all his backed up files to the new laptop. 

Later we'll wipe his infected hard drive and reload his operating system, Windows. This should clean out the infection. 

Online backup salvation 

He was lucky. He was using an online backup service, which I can't recommend highly enough for all my clients, especially businesses. I recommend Mozy.com. 

Test your backups 

Be sure to test your online backup at least monthly by restoring one or more of the backed up files. 

You can read more about ransomware on my blog post here: 

https://cybersecurity808.blogspot.com/2015/06/watch-out-for-ransomware-attacks-theyre.html

And here's a recent article on a ransomware attack in Indiana:

http://arstechnica.com/security/2016/11/indiana-county-government-shut-down-by-ransomware-to-pay-up/

Thanks for reading.

Sam

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*93% of all phishing emails contain encryption ransomware, per PhishMe, Q1 2016 Malware Review, June 2016.

We Have Met the Enemy and He is Us

We have met the enemy and he is us

If you're doing your best to keep your computer protected from cyber attacks - using a router firewall, running security software, keeping software current, etc. - please be aware, the main threat is closer at hand. 

That threat is you. And by you, I mean all of us end users, sitting between the system and the keyboard. In most attacks, we are the primary means of exploit. 

Social engineering
In many cases, cybercriminals prey upon our good nature to gain access to our computers and/or our private information. A term used to describe this is "social engineering." 

Examples of social engineering include: phone calls to our homes or businesses offering bogus computer tech support; calls pretending to be an institution we belong to; or even calls supposedly from charities. These approaches are tried via email too, in which case they're called "phishing" attacks.  

Don't be polite
Suspicion is the name of the defensive game here. Don't feel the need to be polite when you sense you're being probed in this manner. Disengage from the phone call. Delete the email. Close the webpage. 

Take action
If you feel you may have been scammed, contact the actual institution or business immediately to notify them. If you feel an online account has been compromised, change your password at once. If your computer has been hacked turn it off, unplug from the Internet, and call trusted local tech support asap. 

In sum, to quote that famous Pogo cartoon line: "We have met the enemy and he is us." We have to change our behavior to keep ourselves safer from cybercrooks. All the software and hardware filters we use are just aids and deterrents, not final solutions.   

Thanks for reading.

Sam

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The Hazards of Spam

The Hazards of Spam

Spam used to be merely an annoyance: junk email ads for meds, romance, degrees, etc.  Now it has graduated from annoyance to outright danger. The links provided in spam can lead you to a poisoned website where hackers are positioned to infect your computer.  

A tool of hackers
The hacker-run sites may be interactive - enticing you to click something to take further action, which infects your computer. However, in some cases just visiting the site could plague your computer with browser hijacking or a Trojan download. So, as you've heard from me and other IT pros, be very, very suspicious of each and every email you get. When in doubt, delete it!      

How did the spammers find you?
You might be wondering how spammers get your email. There are several sources: chatrooms, websites, customer lists, newsgroups, and viruses which harvest users' address books to name a few. A certain class of bots, referred to as "collection bots" also sends spam to entire domains in order to identify the non-bouncing email addresses, which are then added to a commercial spam database. Nice, huh?

How do the spammers make money? 
It used to be that if a small percentage of users clicked the junk mail, and then purchased the product advertised, that would suffice. The cost of business for spamming is very low, as millions of prospects can be reached by sending numerous bulk emails. Now, as mentioned above, spammers and their network affiliates can make money from hacked computers too, including using ransomware attacks. 

Why can't they be caught and punished?
Spammers distance themselves from law enforcement by operating overseas and by using botnets of infected computers for spam distribution. There are millions of computers worldwide controlled by botnets. Those computers belong to people unaware their computers have been compromised. 

Is yours one of them? I suggest that you thoroughly scan your computer after reading this article with at least two scanners, such as Kaspersky or Malwarebytes. 

What can you do?
How can you protect yourself from this onslaught of spam? One way is to limit your exposure online. Be careful which websites you give your email to.  And consider creating an anonymous-looking email address (nothing to identify you) that you can use for email not relating to work, family and close friends, or trusted financial institutions or ecommerce sites. For example, if you'd like to subscribe to news services, games sites, or social or political causes, use the anonymous email. 

It's also best to use a spam filter in your email program, and set it to aggressive. Just make a habit of checking it so you don't miss any important messages. As for any undesirables that slip through the filter, just mark them as spam and they should not reappear. 

Open a new email account
If you just can't seem to screen out the volume of spam you get, it's best to open a new email account, and only give it to those contacts in the spam-barraged account you care to maintain contact with. Then just check the old account once a week to see if you're missing anything. But never respond to emails from it. 

It takes some effort, but you can fight back against the spam industry.  

Thanks for reading.

Sam

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Don't Mix Personal and Business Email

Don't Mix Personal and Business Email

Those of you in business know about the best practice of keeping separate personal and business bank accounts and credit cards. Any accountant will tell you this is a no-no for several reasons. 

It's best to follow this no-mix approach for email too. Limiting our business email accounts to business matters only, including creating spam and filter lists that black-list all non-business correspondence, will reduce the threats of malware and hacking.   

Will-nilly email sending
Why? Because of the willy-nilly approach many users take to opening, sending, and forwarding potentially unsafe emails (I'm guilty too!), you increase your risk of mixing those types of missives in your in-box with important business email. Some malware and hacks that gain a foothold on your computer via email can wipe out data, take over the email account, and infect the email program or browser. 

I'm not suggesting the business, professional, and governmental world does not bat around junk email and infected messages. But the variety and exposure is generally more limited. This is partly because many institutions have strict email use policies and stringent filtering of inbound and outbound email. This is largely not true for the personal email user. 

How to un-mix the accounts
The easiest remedy to un-mix your email - if you don't already have a personal email address - is to create a free gmail account. Choose a non-identifying address, one that doesn't include your name or pointers to who you are. For example, you can refer to a hobby (passion) like fishing: live.to.fish808@gmail.com. (It's easy to add a gmail account to your phone or tablet after set up in a web browser on a computer.)

Once you create the new email, notify all friends and family to send email only there. Re-route any subscription or online shopping accounts to that address too, or create a new email for that type of thing.

Filter your business mail
Then in your business email account/program, set up a filter to block anyone not in your business contacts list.  

The joy of a smaller inbox
One joy you will notice from doing this is your business email in-box will shrink dramatically. And you'll not be distracted by the noise of non-business messages. 

Personal email browser
As for your personal email, you can keep it handy in a browser window, which you can flip to when you like. If using gmail for your personal email, I recommend using Google Chrome. If you're already using Chrome for your business email, then I suggest using Firefox for the personal account. A better practice is to not access personal email on a work computer; use a personal laptop, tablet, or phone. 

Related article
You may also like to read my post about segregated web browsing, which dovetails with this article. 

Thanks for reading.
Sam

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Disable Third-Party Cookies to Protect Against Threat

Disable Third-Party Cookies to Protect Against Threat

Hackers are trying by every hook and crook to access our private information. A newly reported vulnerability in https, the protocol that encrypts our web surfing, may now be exploited. I have provided a link the news story at the bottom.

This is a very technical, sophisticated exploit called HEIST. The best way to reduce your risk from this attack is to disable third-party cookies in your web browsers.

What are cookies?

Here’s a nice explanation from howtogeek.com:

“Most cookies exist for the sake of persistence. When you visit a website such as Facebook or Twitter, cookies let you stay logged until you log out again. This means that every time you visit that site, you will still be logged in, which saves you the time and effort of re-entering your password.

If you clear you cookies, then you will be logged out (or rather, the browser will think you’re logged out because it will have no memory of you every visiting the site in the first place).

Third-party cookies

Third-party cookies are cookies placed on your device by a website other than the one you’re visiting. For example, say you visit a website and their advertiser(s) set a cookie–this allows that advertiser to track your visits to other websites. You probably don’t want this to happen.

Cookies off, errors possible

For example, you might try to view streaming video on a website, but the video originates from another source. In this case, you will likely see an error telling you that the video cannot be viewed. Often, the error message will provide little clue as to what the problem may be, but if you have third-party cookies disabled, that is most likely the culprit.”

Howtogeek.com gives clear instructions how to disable third-party cookies here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/241006/how-to-block-third-party-cookies-in-every-web-browser/

News story on HEIST exploit:
http://uproxx.com/life/https-heist-exploit/

Thanks for reading.
Sam

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Which Browser is Best?

Which Browser is Best?

I get asked this loaded question frequently. It's loaded because there is no one right answer, and because whichever one I propose will soon likely have some flaw reported that smears its good name. 

So instead of pointing to one, I usually answer like a psychotherapist, tossing a question back: What do you use the browser for? 

Because practically speaking, that's what matters most. For example, some of my clients found Internet Explorer worked best when viewing certain sites they liked. So there it is: use that browser for that purpose. 

Here are some more specific tips:

Google Chrome
For users of Google's Gmail and Google Docs, I recommend Google Chrome. It seems to work best for that purpose.

Mozilla Firefox
For general browsing, I recommend Firefox. It's mostly stable and Mozilla is intent on keeping it as secure as possible. 

Microsoft IE (Internet Explorer) 
I have always found Internet Explorer kind of clunky; but that's just me. If it works well for you, then use it. It's pretty much built-in to Windows. 

Microsoft Edge
This comes with Windows 10. It's sleeker than IE and many users report liking it once they get used to it. 

Update and Refresh
The most important aspect of using any browser these days is keeping it updated. This provides protection against the known exploits that target a specific browser's weak points. You can also refresh/reset browsers when they get buggy. You may lose some of your customization afterwards, but the performance boost is worth it. 

Minimize plug-in use
Another rule of thumb is to minimize the plug-ins you install in a browser, such as the Adobe Flash Player plug in. These are also exploited when not kept current. (I do recommend the Privacy Badger and HTTPS Everywhere plug-ins.)

A Brave new browser
Recently I've been test driving a new browser called Brave. It is a cleanly designed browser with easy-to use privacy and security settings. 

Brave is open source and blocks online ads and other trackers. Unlike traditional browsers where ad-blocking takes place via a third-party add-on or extension, Brave’s browser has this technology built in, which should offer users more privacy and increased speed and performance.

Segmented browsing
My current approach to using browsers is to limit what I do with each one. As mentioned above, I use Chrome primarily for Gmail and Google Docs, and a few other business-only sites. I use Firefox for my personal email, calendar, and personal banking.

I use Edge and Explorer for some other personal Gmail accounts.

I use Brave for all other browsing, web research etc.

Why segment? For one, it keeps me focused on the kind of tasks I'm doing based on which browser I'm in. Chrome=work. IE=youtube watching. Brave=websurfing. 

Also, if I visit a poisoned site which infects my browser, the damage may be limited to that browser, so I can sanitize the infection more easily. (A counter argument could pose that using several browsers enlarges the "attack surface" for malware and hackers, as having more software means more attention to keeping it current.)

A separate tablet or laptop
Another type of "segmenting" I recommend for professionals like doctors, lawyers, etc. is to dedicate one computer to work-related web use. Then use either a tablet or a small laptop, like a Chromebook, for personal websurfing and email while on the office network. The Chromebook is less likely to get infected or hacked due to its operating system, and even if it were, there would be minimal data on it. Plus it can easily be "power washed" to remove any infections.  

Use what works best and is safest
With the rapid evolution of a variety of web services as well as rampant hacking and malware distribution, browser makers are hustling to keep pace by providing sound software products. We users just gotta keep up with what works best and is safest for our purposes. There's no one best solution. 

Thanks for reading.
Sam

p.s. if you're hungry for more detailed info on the browsers mentioned in this article and the many others omitted, check this wikipedia link.

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Use System Restore to Fix Your Windows Computer

Use System Restore to Fix Your Windows Computer

There are plenty of glitches that can plague our Windows computers, malware being just one. Programs break, drivers break, we users make unhelpful changes, etc. 

System Restore - the magic undo

The good news? There is a magic “undo” feature in Microsoft Windows – it’s called System Restore. It’s bailed me and my clients out of difficulties many times. And when you've been hit by malware you can use this to repair your computer before removing the infections with a security scanner. 

If you’ve used System Restore, you may recall your delight when it did its magic. If it’s new to you, let me explain.

A simple approach

Of course there are more detailed ways of diagnosing and remedying hardware and software problems, including malware infections. But if things were fine one day, and the next they’re not - and you don’t recall changing anything - System Restore is a handy tool.

To use it, locate the Run box after clicking your Start button (Windows 7), or type Run in the Windows search box (Windows 8 or 10). Then in the Run box type rstrui.exe, then click OK.

No change to data - but back up anyway

System Restore will launch. Click Next, then locate a recent restore point prior to the day you started having issues. Note: any programs or updates you installed after that date will be removed, but none of your data will be changed. (Nonetheless, it’s best to back up important data before running System Restore.)

Before running System Restore, close all open programs and save all work. Allow anywhere from 5-15 minutes for the Restore process.  

The computer will reboot and present your Windows login screen, and report whether System Restore succeeded or failed.

Creating a Restore Point

A proactive approach to take with System Restore is to set a Restore Point when things are working well. Open the Control Panel, then type Restore in the Search box. Then select Create a restore point. Choose your Windows drive (usually C). Then click Create and name the Restore Point.

Once this Point is created, you can roll back to this in the future should your computer be throwing a fit. (If it’s throwing a big fit, you may have to run System Restore from the command prompt in Safe Mode, but that’s another story.)

Deeper malware removal

If you're running System Restore to aid in malware removal, after Restore is done, go to your Programs in the Control Panel and remove any suspicious characters, sorting by date - a clue being programs you didn't intend to install. 

Then run malware removal scans by using programs like Malwarebytes. 

Restore doesn’t fix all problems, but it’s an easy “go-to” when you want a quick return to smoothing sailing after rough waters.   

Thanks for reading.
Sam

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Where's Your Data Stored?

Where's Your Data stored?

I'd like to pose a question we should be asking ourselves often in this modern digital world: Where's my data?

Where is your data?
These days a person may own a computer, a smartphone, a tablet, and other Internet-connecting gadgets like a smartwatch. Each of these devices collects data we put into them, and data they gather about us. Here I'll focus on one set of important data we input: Personally Identifying Information (PII).

What is Personally Identifying Information (PII)?
PII can include your name, social security number (SSN), date and place of birth, mother's maiden name, etc. It can also relate to your unique medical, educational, financial, or employment information. PII can be exploited for identity theft and other crimes.

Know where your PII is stored. For example, do you keep your SSN, or those of family members, on your phone in the Contacts or in a notes app? This may be convenient, but it's risky. If someone steals your phone, or hacks it, the PII is exploitable.

So after answering the "Where's my data?" question, the follow up should be: "Is it safe there?"

Is your data safe there?
In the example of a smartphone, is yours password protected? Is it encrypted? If the answer is no, no, then do not store PII on the phone. If you are using an app like Lastpass on your phone to store PII, this app's vault encrypts the data. This is good protection, but still password-protect and encrypt your phone. Nothing is 100% secure.   

What if… your phone is lost or stolen?
The third data risk question to ask is: "What if?" For example, ask yourself, "What if my phone is lost or stolen?" Have a protocol you can follow quickly to minimize the potential for information theft, the first step being locating the phone and trying a remote wipe. 

If that isn't effective, then consider all apps and accounts you save on the phone that are password-linked and change those passwords on the website for those apps and accounts immediately! (If you haven’t done so already, make complex and unique passwords for each of those accounts.)

Don't keep any PII on a portable device
To err on the side of paranoia, don't keep any PII on a portable device, or for that matter any info that you don't want going public. Take measures to protect what’s most precious. 

Thanks for reading.
Sam

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3 Steps to Reduce Computer Crisis Stress

3 Steps to Reduce Computer Crisis Stress

There are 3 steps you can take to reduce stress related to a computer crisis. 

By computer crisis I mean a situation where the computer is running very poorly, or may be infected by malware (annoying popups), or may have a hardware part failing (odd noises), or worse yet has crashed and won't restart. 

Be proactive! 

Do these 3 things to reduce your stress when the inevitable happens... 

• Make regular backups of critical data - locally and offsite. For local backup you can use a USB drive. For offsite, I recommend Mozy.com. Worst case, if your computer fails or is hit by damaging malware (such as ransomware), at least you will have your data available to restore when the crisis is resolved. Note: You will need an offsite backup solution to recover from a ransomware attack because this kind of attack can encrypt even your local backup. 

• Deal with the problem promptly. When the computer starts to act up, if you can't fix it, get help asap. Putting it off usually only makes things worse. It's the same as was when you hear an odd noise coming from your car's engine compartment. Better not ignore that one!

• Do regular maintenance. This means installing important updates for all software, and doing tune-ups and clean-ups. Also run security software scans regularly. For businesses, I recommend scheduling maintenance at least quarterly, or having someone in-house be tasked to do it. For home users, do maintenance at least 2x/year. 

As the old adage goes, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. 

It's also a risk tolerance issue: ask yourself how comfortable you are risking a computer failure that could ruin your day. 

Thanks for reading.
Sam

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Do Not Run Your Computer as Administrator

Do Not Run Your Computer as Administrator

I came across a recent study that reinforced why I recommend to my clients that they not use their computer logged in with administrator privileges. 

The study revealed that of the 251 vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Patch
Tuesday security bulletins in 2015 with a critical rating, 85% were concluded to be mitigated by removing administrator privileges.

The primary benefit of running in Standard user-level privilege instead is that programs which try to install without your permission/involvement cannot do so unless you provide the administrator password. This includes malware. 

This approach is also beneficial if you're sharing a home computer with kids - the last thing you want is them installing programs without your supervision. (And it's best to have parental controls running on their accounts too.)

The administrator account does not need to be named Administrator. It can be named whatever you like: Master, Admin, Big Kahuna, Sky Lord, whatever. But it needs to be the only account on the computer with administrator privileges. 

When setting this account up, choose a password that only you or another trusted person knows. 

After creating the new administrator-level account, log off the computer and try to log in with that account. Verify in Settings or the Control Panel that the account in fact has administrator privileges. This is very important! 

It's critical because in the next step you will demote any other administrator-level accounts. Once you do so, they will no longer have administrator control. If you didn't give the new account administrator privileges, you won't be able to "administrate" your computer. Not good!

The next step is to demote all other users to Standard user level. I've provided links at the bottom for Widows 7, 8, and 10. Select a desired user and change to Standard. Then log off the computer and log in again as that user, just to test the user can still log in.

You will notice a change on the computer after doing this: If you try to install software or make system-wide changes as a Standard user, you'll be prompted for the administrator password. 

Again, this is a best practice for computer security. It applies to Windows computers, Apple computers, and Linux (in Linux, administrator is called root.)

Thanks for reading.
Sam

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Thanks for reading.

Sam

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Links for changing account types

Windows 7

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/103538-user-account-type-change.html

Windows 8

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/5518-user-account-type-change-windows-8-a.html

Windows 10

http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/6917-account-type-change-windows-10-a.html

GWX means Get Windows 10 - And Yes, You Still Have A Choice - Resistance Is Not Futile

GWX means Get Windows 10 - And Yes, You Still Have A Choice

Resistance Is Not Futile

Way back in June of last year I posted a piece titled "Windows 10 - Upgrade Optional, Can Wait And See." You can see it here. 

The clock starts ticking

My post was written in midst of the buzz around Microsoft trumpeting the official release of their latest operating system - Windows 10 - and how they were graciously offering it as a free download to existing customers, beginning July 29, 2015. (You could upgrade as long as you were running Windows 7 or 8.1, that is.)

Many early adopters jumped on the bandwagon. Some had problems, some didn't. Some were impressed, some weren't. Most organizations wisely didn't bite the hook - they played the wait and see game. (This is mainly because they have much more to lose if new software doesn't play nice on their systems.)

Pushing the product

Microsoft has been pushing the Windows 10 upgrade pretty aggressively ever since that hallowed day last July. One of their main tactics to influence users is to run a little icon in the system tray at lower right, tempting one to install the upgrade. 

Fiasco

One of my clients felt so pestered by this icon that she did the install. Sadly, it didn't go well. I had to spend hours afterwards making things right, including calling Microsoft tech support to get the upgrade to recognize her previous Windows license, which it should do seamlessly. What a fiasco! And it cost her money, i.e., my time. 

On the other hand, after due consideration to hardware and software versions, and to appease the desires of certain clients, I've installed the Windows 10 upgrade on several computers, upgrading from Windows 7 or 8.1, and haven't had any issues. This I've done on my home systems too - my version of beta testing.

Businesses, be careful

But again, for organizations, especially those which may have legacy (older) programs or equipment, the last thing they need is the headache of dealing with a post-Windows 10 upgrade snafu. 

Blocking the upgrade

If you want to play it safe and prevent the pernicious little GWX (Get Windows 10) agent from harassing you, you can do this: Install a free program named GWX Control Panel. I've been successfully doing this for many of my business clients. (After all, we want do the upgrade on our terms, not because Microsoft is bugging us.) You can get this program here. 

Privacy concerns
If, however, you do take the leap and upgrade to Windows 10, and you are satisfied with the upgrade (you can always roll back if not, at least for short period of time), I suggest you check out the default privacy settings. These are disconcerting to me, because they give too much information and control Microsoft and its bevy of installed apps. I suggest you turn off all the privacy slider bars that concern you.

To see the privacy settings in Windows 10, click the Start button, then PC Settings, then Privacy. You can go item by item and turn off whatever you don't feel comfortable giving Windows access too. If you turn off anything that disables another program, such as Skype, you can always turn it back on. I have turned off everything with no ill effect.  

Upgrade deadline

A last word: The latest news is that Microsoft is providing the Windows 10 upgrade for free until July, 29, 2016. If you want to upgrade after then, you may have purchase Windows 10 from the Windows Store, likely for over $100. 

My suspicion is that Microsoft will somehow extend the free offer. They really want the entire Milky Way Galaxy to migrate to Windows 10 so they can better monitor people's computers and "provide what consumers want" from the "mother ship" in Redmond. Those privacy settings mentioned above have a lot to do with revenue streams collected from being in "close" (i.e. creepy) partnership with you as long as you are online.

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Thanks for reading.

Sam

Ransomware Attacks Are On The Rise

Ransomware attacks are on the rise

One of the latest ploys cybercrooks are using is to lock up your computer, or the files on it, and demand payment to re-enable access.

Via links in emails or website scams, the crooks trick computer users to install software that encrypts all or parts of a computer's files. The only way to decrypt is to pay a ransom demanded by the perpetrators.  

This is happening not only on home computers but also on government and business systems. Recently Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center was subjected to this scheme. The hospital said it paid a $17,000 ransom in bitcoin to the hacker who seized control of the hospital's computer systems. Apparently it was worth it to regain access to the data asap instead of struggling to restore it.

The most important defensive tactic against ransomware attacks is to be very, very careful which emails you open, links you click, sites you visit. Even so, we are not perfect.  

So the next best thing is to use an online data backup service, like Mozy.com. Online backup enables you to restore files if you are hacked by ransomware. Worst case, after an attack, you can have a computer tech erase your computer’s hard drive and reload software, then restore the backed up files. Or you can buy a new computer.

Either approach can be cheaper than the ransom requested. And you avoid dealing with the ransomware jerks at all, effectively not supporting their vile business model. That’s cold comfort, but any comfort counts when we’re victimized by criminals.

If you'd like to read more about this, here's a story in the LA Times:

http://www.latimes.com/local/crime/la-me-malware-ransom-20160220-story.html

And here's another story about two more hospital ransomware victims, these in Germany:

http://www.scmagazine.com/ransomware-holds-data-hostage-in-two-german-hospitals/article/479835/

If you like to beta test software, click here to install an anti-ransomware software program I'm trying out. It's made by Malwarebytes, whose anti-malware program, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, I recommend.

A REMINDER...

If you ever suspect your computer is infected by ANY malicious software, unplug if from the Internet immediately and request trusted tech support. The longer the exploit goes on, the more damage the hackers can cause.

Please feel free to forward this tip to friends, family, colleagues, and others.  

If you haven't already, you can subscribe to our email tips by visiting www.kokuadigital.com and entering your name, email, and "add to email list" in the request form, then click Send.

Thanks for reading, 

Sam

Update or Remove Java - the Only Safe Options

Update or Remove Java - the Only Safe Options 

Oracle has released security updates to address vulnerability in Java SE versions 6, 7, and 8 for Windows. 

Exploitation of this vulnerability may allow a remote attacker to take control of an affected system.

Before worrying about an update, however, consider this: If you don't need Java, you can uninstall it. Usually you would only need it for a gaming program or online database that requires Java. 

If you determine you don't need it, open the Control Panel, then Programs and Features, then locate all versions of Java on the list; uninstall each. Then close all open programs and reboot your computer. 

If you do need Java, you should only need the most current version, unless otherwise indicated by your specific software program that requires it. You can remove all unneeded versions as explained above. 

To check if Java is up to date on your system, visit the site below with Internet Explorer or Firefox, and then click the button: Verify Java version. Follow whatever prompts you receive. (The 32-bit Windows online version is fine for most applications. I recommend to not concurrently install third-party applications offered like Yahoo, McAfee etc.)

http://java.com/en/download/installed8.jsp

If you're curious to learn about Java, check this link:

http://java.com/en/download/faq/whatis_java.xml

This may all seem a bit of a hassle, but if you want to keep your computer as secure as possible, either remove Java or keep it updated. This pretty much applies to every program on your computer, whether Windows or Mac, smartphones, tablets, etc.

A good rule of thumb proposed by Brian Krebs, author of the book Spam Nation, is this: 1)If you didn’t go looking for it [software available online for download], don’t install it; 2)if you do want it, keep it updated; 3)if you no longer want it, remove it.

Please feel free to forward this tip to friends, family, colleagues, and others.  

If you haven't already, you can subscribe to our email tips by visiting www.kokuadigital.com and entering your name, email, and "add to email list" in the request form, then click Send.

Thanks for reading, 

Sam