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Security Alerts Webmail Phishing AttackMany online email accounts, also known as 'webmail', have had their login details stolen and published on several online lists. It is suggested that over 30,000 email accounts have been affected. These details have been used in a recent phishing attack to fraudulently gain email users' sensitive information. This has been done by sending out spam emails from the affected accounts. Phishing emails often claim to be from a well known bank or company requesting personal details or payments from the recipients.Who's Affected? Anyone using an online email account may have been affected, for example Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo. It is strongly recommended that you change your password immediately, even if you haven't noticed anything wrong. How Can a Password be Made Secure? Although there is no way to make an account 100% secure, using a combination of upper and lower case letters, numbers and punctuation will help make a password more secure. This is recommended especially for users who make any kind of online payments. It is also recommended that answers to security questions (used in case the password is forgotten) are changed to something more secure. It is also recommend to having up-to-date internet security on your computer. What if I've Received One of these Phishing Emails? If you have received a phishing email it is recommended also that you change your password. Spam emails of any kind are potentially dangerous. If you are unsure whether an email is genuine, it is best to contact the company directly and they will be happy usually to verify whether or not they have sent the email. Do not give out any personal details until you have done this! If an email asks you to click on a link, check the address of the website it leads to matches the name of the company emailing you. Do not click on the link; it is better to type the address of the website into your browser's address bar yourself, as a link can be designed to forward you to another website. Also, watch out for misspellings of well known websites. If in doubt it is best not to click on links contained in emails. Any questions/concerns? If you have any questions or concerns about this matter, feel free to contact us on 0845 108 4555 or visit us in Gravesend. We are open Monday-Thursday 09:00-17:30, Friday 09:00-17:00, Saturday 10:00-15:00. If you are in need of internet security for your computer we are happy to discuss the various options available and recommend a programme to suit your needs. To download this article as a PDF click here. To download this article as a Word document click here.
Scareware Scam - Fake Anti-Virus SoftwareThe programme in the screenshot shown below is a major world-wide security threat. It is not genuine anti-virus software. If you see one of these windows on your computer, as shown in Figure 1 below, do not use it and do not ignore it, even if you only see the window once.This is a malicious application; its purpose is to compromise personal details and passwords. It potentially leaves the owner at risk of fraudulent activity on any online account they hold - including social networking sites, bank/credit card accounts and email accounts. The longer it is left on a system, the more damage it can potentially cause. If you suspect that you have this or a similar programme on your system shut down your computer immediately. SOS Computer Systems Ltd can give you advice and assistance in dealing with this serious threat. You can call us on 01474 323555 or 0845 1084555. This programme operates under many different names and each one can look really different, we advise you to follow the above guidelines if you have any of the following programmes (or similarly named programmes) on your computer: MS Antivirus XP Antivirus, Vitae Antivirus, Windows Antivirus, Win Antivirus, Antivirus Pro, Antivirus Pro 2009, Antivirus 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 360, Internet Antivirus Plus, System Antivirus, Spyware Guard 2008 and 2009, Spyware Protect 2009, Winweb Security 2008, System Security, Malware Defender 2009, Ultimate Antivirus2008, Vista Antivirus, General Antivirus, AntiSpywareMaster, Antispyware 2008, XP AntiSpyware 2008 and 2009, WinPCDefender, Antivirus XP Pro, Personal Antivirus and Anti-Virus-1 Figure 1: One example of what this programme may look like on an infected computer 
To download this article as a PDF click here. To download this article as a Word document click here. |
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