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<< Back to Newsletter List Email Scams & Hoaxes
First up, in this letter, I'd like to address the matter of email hoaxes and scams. There are an awful lot of them about, more than usual at the moment seemingly. I'll talk about the scams first, as they're far more dangerous than the hoaxes.
There's a very simple rule to follow when you receive an email that claims to be from a bank. Delete it. There's not a bank in the world (that I'm aware of) who will email their clients. Banks have their own internal messaging system built in to their online banking, so if they ever have something to say to you, it'll be through that.
There's been another interesting scam doing the rounds lately too. One I've not seen before. This one claims to be from Adobe and has a link in it to download the latest greatest acrobat reader (and writer) program. Now let’s have a think about this. How did Adobe get your email address in the first place? Unless you've got one of their commercial programs, there's no way as most people don't register the free acrobat reader. Yet, this email has been going out to virtually everybody. Interestingly enough the earlier versions of the email actually misspelt Adobe. If you do (or did) go ahead and install this program, it's a piece of malware (Malicious Software) that appears to be designed to harvest personal information.
So, another important lesson here: Never click on a link in an email unless you're absolutely certain it's from an unimpeachable source, such as your computer technician. Even then, view it with suspicion. I for example, will never send a link in an email to an external source unless I've discussed doing so on the phone with you prior to the email. It's very easy for someone to fake from whom the email appears to originate. For this reason, the security programs I mention later on in this letter won't be linked to directly from the letter. Google them if you don't have them already and don't know where to download them from, (but be very careful to Google the correct spelling, some spyware makers deliberately put fake antispyware and antivirus programs out with very similar sounding names) or call me and I'll walk you through it.
Hoaxes
They're very easy to spot. Email hoaxes use highly emotive language e.g.: “you must contact everyone...” they make highly exaggerated claims e.g.: “... which "burns" the whole hard disc C of your computer” they often quote credible sounding sources (most of whom actually don't have anything to do with computer security software) e.g.: “This is the worst virus announced by CNN, it has been classified by Microsoft as the most destructive virus ever”, and they often include something along the lines of “and there is no repair yet...”. Do yourselves, your friends and relatives a favour and don't forward these things, all they do is spread panic and unease. Some hoaxes (the famous teddy bear icon hoax for example) can actually cause damage by telling people to delete important windows system files.
How do you keep your computer safe?
There are a few programs I recommend people have on their systems. Use them every week or so, make it garbage night.
First and foremost is of course your Antivirus program. I used to recommend CA Antivirus (formerly known as VET) but in the last couple of years, I've gone off them a bit. My current favourite is one that's free (for home use) it's called AVAST. It's an excellent program, which once installed and properly configured will look after itself (and your system) with minimal if any attention from you required. It has a small memory footprint, which means it won't slow your system down and the updates are frequent, so it won't be caught napping when there are new viruses on the march.
For Antispyware, there are actually two current programs. One, Spybot Search & Destroy has been in the Dr Dave stable for years now and is still an excellent program to have. You do need to run the thing every week, update it, then update the Immunisation database, and then scan for problems. The Immunisation database is my favourite feature of Spybot. If it's up to date, spyware is blocked from coming in to your system in the first place. The other program is Malwarebytes Anti-malware. There's a free and a paid version. Free is fine for most people. Just keep it up to date and scan with it every week.
As always, don't hesitate to call if pains persist.
Dave (Doc) Moss
www.drdave.com.au
NSW 1300 300 603
Tasmania 03 6384 2319
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