Short answer: YES INDEED - but the price has been SLASHED!  Here’s why…

I occasionally receive an e-mail from someone considering purchasing my popular e-book The Hacker’s Nightmare, asking if it’s contents are still relevant. In this article I want to answer that question fairly specifically, so in future I can save time by referring such inquiries directly to here.

Not so long ago I was very close to pulling The Hacker’s Nightmare off the market, but fortunately I did a little research before taking that step.

Now if you are NOT using Windows XP, don’t stop at the next paragraph — there’s relevant stuff to come even for users of other Windows versions.

You see, the prime focus of The Hacker’s Nightmare was Windows XP and, without actually KNOWING any different, I wrongly ASSUMED that Windows XP (and thus The Hacker’s Nightmare) had run its course. Even though I still use Windows XP on some of my own computers.

But with further consideration I realized that is by no means the whole truth, or the only consideration.

For one thing, much of the book is NOT operating system specific. There are many chapters that deal with the generalities of computer and online security and which contain information that is a valuable education for any computer user, regardless of their preferred operating system.

But I also uncovered a fact that I admit surprised me, and that I’m sure will surprise a lot of others as well.

According to StatCounter.com, as at June 2011, Windows XP still has the lion’s share of the operating system market!

Even now, almost 2 years after the appearance of Windows 7 (released to retail on October 22, 2009) Windows XP still claims 45.14% of the operating system market, compared with 34.31% for Windows 7 and 12.12% for Vista, with the dregs going to Apple (6.3%), Linux (0.8%) and “other” (1.33%).

Source: StatCounter Global Stats – Operating System Market Share

Those percentages are accurate for the date I’m writing this article. Obviously they will change marginally with time.

In other words, for writers, developers, etc in the technical space, Windows XP is very much still a force to be reckoned with and cannot be ignored.

So I decided that removing The Hacker’s Nightmare from availability at this time would be premature, and would deny a valuable resource to many people who badly need such a reference. After all, it is very clear that computer users are more threatened today by viruses, spyware, identity theft, password cracking programs, con-men, and so on than they have ever been.

Identity theft in particular has become a multi-billion dollar crime worldwide, and much of it is facilitated by violating our computer-related technologies.

So, for now, The Hacker’s Nightmare will remain available.

But intending purchasers should be aware that, although there have been updates, the book was originally written when Windows XP was the current Windows operating system and that there will be certain references and examples that may be Windows XP specific.

With that limitation in mind, and as an incentive for windows users everywhere to take some action in their own defense, I have also decided to slash the price of admittance to our community.

The Hacker’s Nightmare, which originally sold for US$69, is now a gift at US$27, available only through PayPal’s secure ordering system.

The Hacker’s Nightmare has sold so many copies around the world that I could quite easily afford to give it away for free at this time. But support and answering e-mails takes time, so to do that I would have to include a “no support” condition. And that, I believe, would reduce its value.

So the bottom line is that the giveaway price of US$27 will include the full support that we have always offered: if there is something in the book that you don’t understand, contact us and we’ll help you through it.

But don’t delay — I’ll be keeping an eye on this offer and if it looks like being more trouble than it’s worth I’ll withdraw the book from sale permanently, though existing owners will of course continue to receive the support promised.

To give you an indication of what The Hacker’s Nightmare contains I will list the chapters below.

So don’t be a sitting duck…

The Hacker’s Nightmare :: Table of Contents

NOTE: Subject to change without notice

Notices
Preface

Section 1 – Introduction

Chapter 1: Software Tools and Utility Programs
Chapter 2: Security overview
Chapter 3: The Game Plan
Chapter 4: Basic preparations
Chapter 5: What you should know about your PC

Section 2 – First Line of Defense

Chapter 6: Phishing—the Sport of Thugs
Chapter 7: A Wake-up Call
Chapter 8: The Forward Sentry
Chapter 9: Selecting a Firewall/Router
Chapter 10: Wireless security
Chapter 11: Connecting the pieces

Section 3 – Defense in Depth

Chapter 12: An Overview of Local Protection
Chapter 13: The Importance of Task Scheduling
Chapter 14: Vanquishing the Virus
Chapter 15: Trojans & Spyware
Chapter 16: Walls within Walls

Section 4 – Other Threats and Tactics

Chapter 17: Patches & Updates 1: Overview
Chapter 18: Patches & Updates 2: Microsoft Products
Chapter 19: Patches & Updates 3: Other Products
Chapter 20: Dispensable DCOM
Chapter 21: Keeping Informed
Chapter 22: Managing Cookies
Chapter 23: Backups—surviving a disaster
Chapter 24: Microsoft Word Revelations
Chapter 25: Erase Data Securely
Chapter 26: Remote computing
Chapter 27: The Fine Art of Social Engineering
Chapter 28: Passwords I—Choosing & Using
Chapter 29: Passwords II—Biometrics
Chapter 30: The hazards of “freebies”
Chapter 31: Dirty tricks with extensions
Chapter 32: Taming the eMail Preview Pane
Chapter 33: Icon Spoofing

Section 5 – Additional Strategies

Chapter 34: Restricting ‘removables’—stop data from walking
Chapter 35: Pop-ups from Hell
Chapter 36: Preventing digital product theft

Appendices

Appendix 1: Definitions
Appendix 2: The EndItAll Utility Program
Appendix 3: Installing & Removing Software
Appendix 4: Implementing a Fast Reboot icon
Appendix 5: Identity Theft
Appendix 6: IP Addresses 101
Appendix 7: Anti-virus 101
Appendix 8: Port usage
Appendix 9: Determining Port Usage on a PC
Appendix 10: Browser ‘session cookie’ settings
Appendix 11: Cookie Pal
Appendix 12: Browser Wars
Appendix 13: Floppy Disk Basics

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The biggest threat to a computer’s security and its performance comes in the form of malicious programs, such as viruses, worms, trojans, spyware and adware. Such programs are designed to disrupt the performance of a stable computer, causing frequent system or software crashes.

To make matter worse, certain malware is adept in stealing confidential data and surreptitiously passing it on to the program’s creator for unscrupulous activities.

Any computer connected to the Internet is susceptible to malware infection. To keep your computer protected from malicious programs, apply constant vigilance and practice safe computing habits.

In this tutorial we discuss the following topics:

• Symptoms of malware infection
• Examples of malware-related processes
• How to get rid of malware
• Why it is necessary to clean the registry post malware infection
• Essential safe computing habits

Symptoms of malware infection

A malware infection is often preceded by the following symptoms:

• Slow system startup and shutdown.
• Delay in loading of an application.
• Frequent system freeze ups.
• Frequent application errors.
• Deletion of important system or application files.
• Frequent system or software crashes.
• Changes in Web browser settings.

Examples of malware related processes

• d.exe – This process is recorded as a trojan, designed to steal your confidential data.
• smss.exe – Many malicious programs disguise themselves as the genuine smss.exe file – which is an important part of the Windows operating system – causing frequent system crashes.
• alg.exe – Malware such as W32.Kueigh masquerade as the genuine alg.exe – which is associated with a core Windows process – and steals confidential data and also affects other computers in the network.

How to get rid of malware

If you notice any of the symptoms of malware present in your Windows computer, perform the following two tasks:

• Update your anti-malware software with the latest anti-malware definitions.
• Detach your computer from any network that it is attached to and disconnect the PC from the Internet.

Next, reboot Windows in Safe Mode by performing the following steps and run a complete malware scan twice.

1. Close all running applications
2. Restart Windows.
3. Press and hold the F8 key as Windows reloads.
4. Select the Safe Mode option in the Advanced Windows Boot Option Menu.
5. Press the Enter key.

Clean the registry after removing threats from your PC

The registry is perhaps the most important component of a Windows PC and malware programs invariably attempt to corrupt the registry by injecting innumerable invalid and corrupt entries into it. After you have removed malware from your computer, also take steps to remove malware-related entries from your registry.

Cleaning the registry is safe and easy providing you use the right tools! The sad fact is that the effectiveness of many Registry cleaners ranges from relatively useless to downright dangerous.

Our favorite Registry cleaner is RegistryBooster from Uniblue. We have thoroughly tested RegistryBooster and confidently recommend it as the best and safest Registry cleaner available today. The best way to obtain RegistryBooster is as a component part of the Uniblue PowerSuite package, which also includes the very useful CleanupMyPC and DriverScanner programs.

Safe computing habits

Don’t loosen your guard after removing malware, instead back it up with constant vigil and practice safe computing habits to prevent re-infection.

Here are a few computing habits that you will find it very wise to follow:

• Regularly update your anti-malware software and perform regular malware scans.
• Always scan email attachments before opening them.
• Read the EULA (end user license agreement) before installing new software to ensure no spyware or adware programs are being installed along with the software.
• Never download software from dubious websites.

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

Don't get hooked like a big dumb Trout!

Owners of my security e-book The Hacker’s Nightmare have been too well educated to ever be caught by scams like the following. However they are exactly the type of thing that catches millions of less wary people on a regular  basis.

TWITTER TWADDLE!

The scumbag spam brigade is currently inundating e-mail in-boxes with fake messages purporting to be from Twitter.

You can easily identify the fakes — they contain a link that the sender wants you to click.

PLEASE KEEP THIS IN MIND…

All legitimate providers of any sort of membership service (social media sites, financial institutions, etc) are now awake to the fact that, in the interests of their customer’s security, they should not include “Click Me” links in their HTML e-mail communications.

If they really want you to login to your account and do something, they will ask you to do just that, with something like: “Please login to your account“. Maybe they will provide you with the login URL, but not as a link. However more often than not as a member you will be expected to know the login URL, along with your username and password.

HTML & PLAIN TEXT DIFFERENCES …

Be sure you know how to tell an HTML e-mail from a plain text e-mail.

Hovering your mouse pointer over a link in an HTML e-mail will usually display a little pop-up window containing the real URL that the link is pointing to — regardless of what the link text itself says.

In other words, a link in an HTML e-mail can lie to you. The link text might say something like:

Please click on the link below:
http://twitter.com/account/name@yourdomain.com

But in fact the link will take you to: http://hackerbot.xxx/gotcha/

ON THE OTHER HAND…

With a plain text e-mail, what you see is what you get. So long as you recognise the URL as being valid it is safe to click on. But you still have to be careful that it’s not a carefully constructed look-alike.

ANOTHER ONE DOING THE ROUNDS…

…is a plain text e-mail with no links in it, but with an HTML file attached. The body text of the e-mail will read something like:

You have (8) messages from Microsoft Outlook.

Please re-configure your Microsoft Outlook again.

Download attached setup file and install.

While it makes a feeble attempt to appear to be Microsoft Outlook Support, that ain’t the case at all. The examples I’ve seen are actually from: Frillsdu64@recordonline.com.

EDUCATE YOUR PROVIDERS…

If you are a member of any legitimate service that is in the habit of putting “Click Me” links in their e-mail communications to you, PLEASE contact them and point out how dangerous this practice is. This is how the cyber crims grab your login credentials for their own nefarious purposes.

Related articles:

• Spam masquerading as Twitter e-mails lead to phishing, malware
• Twitter forcing some users to change password. Reported threat of phishing attacks

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

In Part 2 of this series I want to talk about protecting your social networking account, and it all boils down to…

PASSWORDS

And No… you probably don’t already know everything you need to know about passwords, so you really need to keep reading. I’m going to show you exactly some of the ways the bad guys get at your passwords.

If you missed it please first read
 Social Networking Self-Defense: Part I

So it’s pretty obvious that anyone who gets hold of your login credentials, most importantly your password, can modify your personal pages to their heart’s content.

Now, you might be thinking something like “OK, I’ll memorize my password, never write it down, and never tell anyone”.

Well, good, that at least that would be a step in the right direction, but unless you clearly understand how vulnerable passwords are, it won’t be a big enough step. Not by a long shot.

Let’s take a look at password cracking itself…

How to Crack Passwords

Something that very few computer users realize is just how easily common passwords can be cracked. There are all sorts of special password cracking programs readily available to those who take the trouble to look. None of those programs are infallible, but one thing is certain: passwords made up of common words, or common words with a few numbers appended, are usually cracked fairly quickly.

In the past, when writing on this topic, I have always avoided giving any details on password cracking programs. I just didn’t want to be responsible for encouraging anyone to seek out and use such tools.

However, search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo etc have become so accurate and all-inclusive as to make these things fairly easy to find. So now I think I can probably achieve more by actually proving their existence to you.

Here’s a list of the 10 top password crackers, according to the Security Tools [http://sectools.org/crackers.html] website, with their descriptions slightly edited for this article.

|
All of those programs work on Windows, and many of them on other operating systems as well. Obviously not all are suitable for cracking all types of passwords under all circumstances, but in the hands of even a reasonably competent person any of several can be a serious threat to your security.

Still not convinced?

A recent Computerworld article describes the massive market for usernames and passwords or social network accounts. One hacker alone has 1.5 million Facebook accounts on offer!

Seriously, you REALLY need to click here and read that article.

And hey! If you aren’t already calling up your Facebook account to change the password (in line with the suggestions here-in) then I’m afraid you’re a sucker just waiting to be sucked dry.

What NOT to do

As a result of a major phishing attack in late 2006 approximately 34,000 MySpace passwords became available for download. Some researchers saw this as an opportunity to analyze what sort of passwords people were using. Here’s a list of the 20 most popular passwords:

|
Not one of those passwords would present the slightest problem to a decent cracking program. Here are some more statistics from the analysis of those 34,000 passwords:

• Numbers were used in well over half the passwords.
• When used, numbers were most often appended to the end of the password.
• Almost 1% of users had the word “password” as all or part of their password.
• Words, colors, years, names, sports, hobbies and music groups were very popular.
• Other popular words include: angel, baby, boy, girl, big, me, the.
• Cuss words were very popular. Because these are common and well known they should be considered as dictionary words, whether they appear in any “real” dictionary or not.
• Also popular were the names of sports (golf, football, soccer, etc.), professional sports teams and college team nicknames.

Again, all very easy stuff for a good cracking program.

I’ll be going into some detail here because I want you to understand very clearly the extreme importance of using good strong passwords if you are serious about protecting yourself.

So let’s look now at exactly what makes for a strong password, from the password cracker’s point of view.

What you SHOULD do

The most important aspects of a password are its length and composition, but there is an apparent catch involved. If length and composition are right for a strong password, then it’s very unlikely you’ll be able to remember even one password, let alone the many that most people need to use. But don’t worry, we’ll solve that dilemma in a moment. First let’s look at the password itself.

The length aspect is simple: the longer a password, the harder it is to derive using special password cracking tools.

Composition is a bit more complex. To be truly effective, the characters that make up the password should consist of a mixture of upper and lower case alphabetic characters (A-Z, a-z), numerals (0-9), plus punctuation and special characters (!@#$%^&*). In addition, repetition of characters should be kept to a minimum and the password should not contain any real names or dictionary words. Here is an example of a 20 character password that conforms nicely to those rules:

Mu49#SLQ&p5^eh!6M9B2

Yes, I know what you’re thinking:

“How on earth could I ever remember something like that?”

And the answer is…

For PC users  : RoboForm
For Mac users : 1Password

Now, I’m a PC user, so I don’t use 1Password, but I have read their material, watched a video on the product and asked some Mac users whose opinions I respect. What I can tell you is that it works very much like RoboForm, performing much the same tasks, and is highly regarded by those Mac users I consulted. For all practical purposes any mention of RoboForm features that follows applies also to 1Password.

When installed, both RoboForm and 1Password take up residence on your browser toolbar.

Secure password generation is a handy feature, but the real power of RoboForm, and the thing that makes it so indispensable to security minded people, is that it can remember the complex passwords that it generates, and also remember which website or login form each password relates to. This is a massively significant feature.

On visiting a web page that contains login fields, RoboForm provides you with a one-click prompt that will fill in all the necessary fields with login information that is specific to that page only.

Similarly, when you manually fill in login fields for a site that you haven’t visited before, you can quickly and easily store those login credentials for one-click retrieval on future visits to that site.

In other words, the longer and more complex a password the better, because you’ll never have to remember it. Nor do you need to be tempted to use the same password on multiple websites, because with RoboForm having five, 25 or 50 long, complex, meaningless passwords is no more of a load on your brain than having just one.

RoboForm offers another extremely useful feature not directly related to passwords but worthy of mention if it will entice you to use this excellent utility.

One-click filling out of forms with any number of personal details can be a real time saver. Name, address, landline phone number, mobile number, fax, date of birth, credit card details — virtually any sort of information required on a form can be intelligently provided with a single click. That’s one click for the whole form, not one click for each field! RoboForm knows what’s being asked for and provides just that.

Both RoboForm and 1Password offer free 30-day trials, after which each application will continue to operate but with a reduced feature set. Here’s the situation was RoboForm:

|
By all means trial the product first, but believe me, purchasing the full version is a very easy decision. Most people will definitely need many more than 10 pass cards alone, not to mention how useful multiple identities and profiles can be, and the ability to create numerous custom fields.

Again, here’s where to get‘em:

For PC users  : RoboForm

For Mac users : 1Password

And remember…

The first line of defense is the human brain.
Keep it engaged when online.

Related articles

• SSD tools crack passwords 100 times faster

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The FBI has released a report that clearly indicates that the level of Internet crime is not only just as bad as we suspected it was, but getting much worse, with losses more than doubling between 2008 and 2009.

The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) which issued the report is a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center. The center acknowledges that the loss figures could be conservative because they are based only on complaints reported to IC3.

Ironically, the most reported e-mail scams involve the scammer claiming to be from or affiliated with the FBI. The aim of course being to extract information from the target.

The report is actually an interesting read, with many colorful graphics clearly displaying such revealing data as:

• Most common complaint categories
• The number of perpetrators per 100,000 of population (USA)
• The top locations of perpetrators (US states plus countries)
• Some interesting case studies
• And so on…

Download the 25 page report in PDF format

Yes, it does affect you personally…

Unfortunately there is still a public perception that most Internet scams are dreamed up by lone social misfits pounding a keyboard in their bedroom or basement.

The truth is that those days are long gone; most of today’s scams are perpetrated by professional criminals with considerable resources available to them.

To stay ahead of the these grubs you need three things:

1. The right information and advice;
2. The right security tools;
3. The right mindset.

None of those things are going to just fall into your lap. To stay safe online you must be proactive — you must educate yourself and you must actually take some action.

Information sources such as this blog can assist you immensely, but only if you review the posts regularly. So do yourself a favor and subscribe to notifications of new posts.

See the ‘Subscribe Now’ box towards the top right of this page. You have nothing to lose and you could gain substantially, if even one tip or article or idea saves you from loss.

Related articles:

• Cyber Crime Complaints Soar
• FBI reports online crime losses double in 2009
• Big Boost In Net Crimes
• Losses from Internet crime more than doubled in 2009
• Most Popular Internet Scam In 2009: Impersonating The FBI

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

We all know that data theft, credit card theft, etc are rife. And we know that spyware, viruses, Trojans and other cyber nasties are a threat. But have we been underestimating the real effect?

As regular readers will know, I’m not a fan of Norton/Symantec or McAfee anti-malware products. I believe you can do a lot better for less money and consequently experience far fewer “system problems”. However, there is no disputing the fact that the big companies like those two certainly have the resources necessary to conduct, collate and analyze large global surveys. Hence they are certainly worth listening to when they publish such information.

In January of this year Symantec conducted a survey of 2,100 businesses and government agencies located in 27 different countries, and the revelations concerning the extent of data theft were quite sobering.

Now, the part of the survey I’m interested in asked those entities if they had ever suffered a cyber loss in the preceding 12 months.

Guess how many replied in the affirmative?

100% !!!

Yes, every single one of those 2,100 businesses or government agencies had been the victims of some sort of data loss: credit card info, financial data, intellectual property theft, and so on.

What is loss?

Loss of data is very different to loss of a physical item. If your actual physical credit card is lost or stolen, then it’s gone and that’s it. At the latest you’ll know that it’s missing the next time you go to use it.

But if someone steals the information about that credit card — your name, card number and pin — you still have the card itself and you’ll probably be none the wiser until your next statement arrives with a few thousand dollars missing.

Now, getting back to that survey…

The thing you need to keep in mind here is that pretty much all of those organizations have IT departments staffed by qualified people who are constantly on the watch for any sort of incursion. If they weren’t on constant watch for such things then there would be many instances of loss/theft that would go unnoticed, at least for a time.

For example, the survey quotes an IT project manager at a federal agency as saying “You can sit and watch our monitors and see people try to attack us”. It is an indisputable fact that right across the globe IT security people are seeing new viruses, spyware and back-doors EVERY SINGLE DAY.

What I’m getting at here is that it’s very unlikely that you, as an individual without all those costly and sophisticated corporate resources, will have the time, capability or knowledge to be constantly monitoring for attempts at data theft.

And don’t think for a moment that you are a lesser target because you are an individual. Most data theft is completely automated, with malicious programs searching out ANY computer anywhere that they can gain access to.

Even with all their resources, 92% of the survey respondents admitted that the cyber theft they had suffered had resulted in significant costs. And if you are a business one of the most significant losses you can suffer is loss of customer trust, which inevitably leads to reduced revenue.

So if the big players with all the resources are getting hit, what are your chances?

Well, if you read this blog on a regular basis, your chances are probably at least a bit better than the average. The two-line subscription form that ensures you don’t miss any posts is at the top right of this page.

Related articles

• Symantec’s “State of Enterprise Security 2010″ report (PDF)
• Cyber attacks cost businesses an ‘average of £1.2 million’ a year
• Who lost business to cyber-weaknesses?
• Cyber security tops IT priority list
• Data Thefts Cost Firms $2 Million Each a Year
  

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

January 21 saw the release by Microsoft of a very important out-of-band security bulletin to address recently publicized flaws in Internet Explorer.

So-called “out-of-band” bulletins are those released at a time other than Microsoft’s traditional Patch Tuesday — the second Tuesday of each month. Out-of-band announcements are bulletins/patches/updates that Microsoft believes are too important to delay action on until the next Patch Tuesday.

If Microsoft admit the extra importance of a new “fix” then you should definitely sit up and take notice.

These most recent exploits have been well publicized worldwide (believed to have originated in China and possibly with government sponsorship) and can also cause problems via other applications such as the Adobe PDF Reader.

You must take action NOW!

I strongly suggest that you take immediate action as follows:

1. Visit the Microsoft update website and perform an update on your PC.
2. Visit the Secunia website, download the Secunia Personal Software Inspector (PSI), install it, run it and update any out-of-date applications it reports. Thousands of computer users are being compromised/robbed/impersonated every day because they continue to use out-of-date/unpatched applications.
3. If you’re still using Internet Explorer (sigh!) download and install Firefox and set it as your primary browser. Look, Internet Explorer doesn’t hold a candle to Firefox in ANY respect. Firefox is better, safer, faster and far superior in the usability and productivity stakes.
4. If the Adobe Reader is your PDF reader of choice, disable JavaScript in that application only. You’ll find numerous suggestions to disable JavaScript in your browser, but that’s a self-defeating move. So many websites rely on JavaScript for functionality that you will effectively cripple your browser by disabling JavaScript. However, disabling JavaScript in Adobe Reader is a different matter altogether. Very, very few PDF files utilise JavaScript, and if you should encounter one (very unlikely) you can enable JavaScript just for that document (if you’re absolutely sure it’s safe). To disable JavaScript in Adobe reader, open the reader and proceed as follows:

• Edit –> Preferences
• Select the JavaScript entry in the left column
• Uncheck Enable JavaScript in the right column

And remember this:

The vast majority of damaging exploits rely on you taking some action such as clicking a link or opening an attachment. In my e-book The Hacker’s Nightmare I discussed these ploys in some depth under the heading of “social engineering”.

DO NOT ALLOW YOURSELF TO BE SOCIALLY ENGINEERED!

Related articles

• Why France and Germany Got it Right: IE Must Go
• Critical out-of-band patch for Internet Explorer now available
• Microsoft patching “Google hack” flaw in IE tomorrow
• McAfee: China attackers exploited new IE hole
• McAfee: China attackers exploited unpatched IE hole
• Mozilla releases Firefox 3.6 with promise of more speed, stability
• Microsoft to release early patch
• Microsoft confirms 17-year-old Windows bug
• Microsoft fixes 8 IE holes, including one used in attacks
• How to improve Internet Explorer security

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

The cyber vermin who are out to steal your money and your identity (and consequently your credit rating and maybe much else besides) are still at it. Basically the same tricks, but better presented.

Today’s warning is just a variation on previous scam examples I’ve given, the last of which I discussed in this article. However, I’m still getting support messages asking if such-and-such is legitimate.

Once again…

Neither Microsoft nor any legitimate financial institution
|will EVER ask you to click a link in an e-mail.

And secondly…

It’s very easy to see what the REAL link is,
as opposed to the APPARENT link.

Consider this fine example of the scammer’s art:

By hovering your mouse cursor over the APPARENT link you can (in most browsers and e-mail client programs) see a pop-up that reveals the TRUE link. In this example the relevant part of the true link is:

So what appears to be:

http://update.microsoft.com/etc.

Is in reality going to send you to:

http://update.microsoft.com.looolokr.co.uk/etc.

And looolokr.co.uk is NOT Microsoft.com!!!

You should know this stuff well enough that, having seen one or two examples, you will not be fooled by a variation just because it looks different or more convincing. In every case, in every e-mail…

IT’S THE REAL URL THAT MATTERS

Fail to realize that and you could very easily end up in serious legal and financial trouble. No kidding!

There’s a squillion of these Microsoft/Outlook/Outlook Express scams circulating at the moment, and I’ll bet they’re nailing thousands of gullible people all over the planet.

Don’t you be one of them.

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

There is a new scam doing the rounds that is just different enough and clever enough that I’m sure it will suck in a lot of people.

Hopefully you will read this warning before it gets to you and you’ll be on the alert. There are a few minor variations, but they all pretty much follow this format…

—-Original Message—–
From: system-administrator [mailto:system-administrator@helyholdings.com]
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2009 11:09 PM
To: [e-mail address deleted]
Subject: Mail server upgrade

Attention!

On October 16, 2009 server upgrade will take place. Due to this the system may be offline for approximately half an hour.

The changes will concern security, reliability and performance of mail service and the system as a whole.

For compatibility of your browsers and mail clients with upgraded server software you should run SSl certificates update procedure.

This procedure is quite simple. All you have to do is just to click the link provided, to save the patch file and then to run it from your computer location. That’s all.

http://updates.helyholdings.com.secure.nixserver-systems.com/core/id=7963055930-bill.hely@helyholdings.com-patch9691.exe

Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter and sorry for possible inconveniences.

System Administrator

So who do you think the “System Administrator” is? Here’s some of the information I dug up:

Domain name : DB-1.NET
Name Server : ns1.x2dns.ru
Name Server : ns2.x2dns.ru
Creation Date : 2009.10.06
Expiration Date : 2010.10.06

Name : Elena V Zhuravlyova
Organization : Elena V Zhuravlyova
Street1 : Orekhovyi boulevard
Street1 : d.31 kv.72
City : Moscow
State : Moscow
Postal Code : 115573
Country : RU
Contact Country : RU
Contact Phone : +7 499 2678638
Contact E-mail : awoke@co5.ru

If you think Elena and her Russki friends have your best interests at heart, I have some nice bridges you might be interested in. Very cheap, but please send me your money now — before Elena gets it all.

[What's the bet that "Elena" has a three-day growth of facial hair and other,  ahem, X+Y chromosome attributes?]

Also…

It’s Microsoft Patch & Updates Day

It’s that time again folks — Microsoft has just released their Security Bulletin Summary for October 2009.

To have your system scanned for relevant products & updates, and to receive update recommendations customized to your installation Click Here Now

Stay safe – patch now! Many of the malware threats that you are frequently warned about in the various news and information media, on and off-line, should never be the slightest threat to you.

If you make a habit of applying the patches & updates that are issued by Microsoft every month, you will be immune from infection by many of the tens of thousands of threats currently circulating on the Internet, with more being churned out by the cybergrubs on an almost daily basis.

The vast majority of these threats get into your computer by exploiting some known vulnerability in Windows. When one of these vulnerabilities is patched by Microsoft, the threat becomes benign — but only if you have applied the free patch to your version of Windows.

So remember…

You Ignore Patches & Updates at Your Peril!

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.

We’re all well aware that all sorts of shenanigans goes on in the murky world of bureaucracy and politics. Always has been so, always will be. No matter where you live. The protagonists themselves, by their very actions, have conditioned us not to expect much of them.

But surely we’re entitled to expect a certain level of alertness and perspicacity in the elite few who have reached the top echelon of their calling. People like, say, the director of the FBI.

You agree? Hmmmm…

A couple of days ago our American friends were treated to the story of how FBI director Robert Mueller had been banned by his wife from using Internet banking.

Why? Get this…

Mueller, whom you might expect would be at least reasonably well schooled in shams and scams, and on full alert for them, was (by his own admission) within a click or two of delivering his net banking password to a cyber-crim, courtesy of a phishing e-mail. Only at the last moment did it dawn on him that this “might not be a good idea”.

Huh!

If Mr Mueller subscribed to this blog, the merest thought of responding to a phishing e-mail would not have entered his mind for a moment.

Look, if there’s any reader of this site who is still in doubt about how this works, I’ll distil it down for you right here, short and to the point…

NO FINANCIAL INSTITUTION WILL EVER
ASK YOU TO CLICK A LINK IN AN E-MAIL.
NONE.
EVER.

All financial institutions, and that includes payment processors such as PayPal and Clickbank as well as banks etc, are very well aware of the dangers and the potential for abuse.

If your bank ever really does want you to change your password or confirm your account details or anything like that, they will tell you to login to your account and do such and such.

They will NOT say “click here”.

They will NOT provide you with any sort of a link.

They will expect you to know how to login to your account and they will expect you to do that of your own volition, without any links or other help from them.

ANY link in ANY e-mail is a potential threat until you have given it conscious consideration.

©2012 Bill Hely's "Computer & Online Security" Blog. All Rights Reserved.