Tech: Be wary

Subject: Tech: Be wary
From: EBarnacle
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 05:33 PM

A couple of days ago, I opened a link from a sender I thought I recognized. It turned out to be an instant download of a group of viri and a "buy this wonderful product and get rid of your virus and malware problems for only $59.95." I closed my internet link and an a series of scans with Malware bytes, Glary and Avast, killing it off.

I discovered when I tried to go back online that it had also knocked off Explorer off my system. That was easy to fix by going into my internet settings.

Just watch out for those "interesting" invitations and links. The potential for malware is everywhere.

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: Bonnie Shaljean
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 05:37 PM

Ewwwwww... what was the link purporting to be?

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 06:16 PM

Don't trust nothin' from nobody. Yahoo mail and others have been repeatedly hacked. I've gotten emails from people I know but the subject line is nothing they would use.

Beware out there!

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: GUEST,ploppo
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 06:39 PM

I've had nasties from friends addresses which have been hacked - there's usually a link: DON'T OPEN IT.
Report it and also tell the friend.

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: GUEST,999
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 06:52 PM

No one ever e-mails me anyway, so everything goes in the trash.

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 07:35 PM

There is a Russian scam that is well known - if you accidentally load one of those programs that is supposed to clean or speed up your computer it actually infects it. That message to pay $60 to get rid of it - when you call you apparently get a Russian accented voice on the other end who takes your credit card information and gives you information for how to remove or disable the virus. If you use Malwarebytes, and if you search of the infection at BleepingComputer.com, you can get rid of it yourself. I've talked a couple of friends through the steps long-distance.

SRS

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: EBarnacle
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 08:47 PM

The interesting thing is that none of the programs I used recognized anything wronger than usual. When I finally got back on line, however, there was no functional problem.

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jul 12 - 10:26 PM

They're everywhere. I got a text with an 877 toll free number to call for help with my "credit card resolution." Don't think so! We've one card only and no "resolution" of any kind.

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Jul 12 - 04:53 AM

My Norton AV gives me a monthly "status report" that summarizes every "detection," "blocking," "quarantine," or "removal" it's done, in a popup of its "scan status" report. The also have recently included links to their own "newsletters" on particular problems that have been recently common.

A recent report was that some of the malware currently being seen is not completely removed by usable antimalware programs, and some may be "completely invisible" to common scans.

They - and quite probably other AV makers - have produced a couple of new "separate programs" for the problems that can't be handled by the usual methods.

One of the programs does essentially a "deep scan" to look in unusual places and for things hidden from other methods. This kind of scan can't be used as part of a maintenance AV program because it's extremely invasive and machine settings may have to be changed (by the program) in order to access all the nooks and crannies, and "performance after scanning" may be affected.

A second special purpose program is a "deep clean" process, but the warning is that it is a "last resort" since it may be forced to (permanently) disable other programs on the computer if there's even a hint of malware anywhere in their files - and data is likely to be lost.

Both of these special purpose programs have to override normal system security in order to access all the places where malware might hide, so you might think of them as "malware for finding malware."

Unfortunately, some of the malware designers have bigger budgets than the governments in some of the places from which they operate, and they can afford to hire very clever people. Some of them might even be as smart as you (think you) are, so the best defense is still "JUST DON"T CLICK." It's often put as "don't click if in doubt" but I'd add "and always doubt anything YOU DIDN'T PLAN ON DOING BEFORE the opportunity to click appeared."

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Jul 12 - 05:09 AM

If it looks like you're getting more "SPAM and SCAM offers" than most others, there may be a reason, as suggested by:

Why scammers say they're from Nigeria

There's a link to the "full report" but, as indicated in the article, "it ain't an easy read" unless you're a pretty good statistician. The link here should give you a clue, unless you're just clueless.

John

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 02 Jul 12 - 06:54 AM

I received an e-mail purporting to be from American Airlines, saying that the tickets I had purchased were attached. I didn't click.

Worried about my credit card, I called American, and they said the e-mail was not from them, and the reservation number was not in the right form to be theirs. From now on, I'll simply delete any message like that, unread.

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: Newport Boy
Date: 02 Jul 12 - 07:18 AM

One of the checks I always do for email links is to mouse over the link and check the address. For example, There's currently an email in my Junk folder purporting to be from Santander Bank.

The From: address is [e-mail], but the link to click is nasteviwedding.com/install/form.asp.php (with the usual http://www prefix)

I don't think so, thanks!

BTW, I use Avast! AV in my virtual WinXP installs - it reports no nasties detected in the 3 years since I installed it. But then, I don't let real Windows anywhere near the internet.

Phil

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 02:27 PM

Today I received a follow-up e-mail about picking a non-existent seat for my imaginary airline flight. This is something new - I've never seen a follow-up to a failed scam (meaning I didn't take the bait) before.

Subject: RE: Tech: Be wary
From: EBarnacle
Date: 03 Jul 12 - 05:57 PM

What I do with the airline tickets is forward them to the relevant airline and let them deal with the potential dasmage to their name.