Malware Advisory

[tex]

Hi All,

Most of us are always on the lookout for suspicious emails, and the suspicious links that they contain. But if we are distracted for a moment, and lower our guard, or click on a link without thinking . . . well, I can't predict exactly what will happen, but I can pretty much guarantee that whatever happens will not be in our best interest (to say the least).

There are a lot of emails going around these days, with subject warnings about our Facebook password being changed because of suspicious activity on our Facebook account (I don't even have a Facebook account, so this one was a no-brainer ), or our email account being deactivated because it was hacked, or because of suspicious activity, etc. Before you open any email (especially emails that should raise huge red flags in our brain, such as these examples), look at the address associated with the email. It will usually be an address that we don't recognize, not even related to the source that the email is intended to mimic. Sometimes it may actually appear to be very similar a legitimate address, and in those cases, be sure that you compare it with a previous address from them to make sure that it is not a fake that's just similar to the correct address. And whatever you do, don't click on any link in that email unless you are absolutely confident that the email is legitimate.

I use a very small local email provider for most of my email. Yet one of those emails (warning about my email account being deactivated) was in my mailbox this morning. So those guys are good, and they're obviously willing to go to a fair amount of trouble to do their thing. Of course, the address was not correct, so I trashed it on the web server, before it was allowed to be downloaded to my computer.

Anyway, please stay alert, and keep your computer safe.

Tex

[CathyMe.]

Thanks for the reminder Tex! Another reminder, especially at this time of the year is to monitor your debit accounts for suspicious activity. I got a call from the fraud division Saturday morning as someone put through a western union $ transfer for 492.00 two times in Denver Colorado! Thank goodness I have a credit union that insures theses sorts of things so the money was put back into my account! If these folks would put their smarts to good use, just think what they could accomplish!

[ldubois7]

Thanks, Tex....we do need that reminder!

[Marcia K]

I just got a virus on my work computer. I have to get a new computer...it was bad. I don't go on many websites at work so they're not sure how I got it. What a pain!

[tex]

Marcia,

A few years ago I regularly subscribed to a listserver associated with a group of cervid experts. Cervids are members of the Cervidae family, which includes all deer, elk, moose, reindeer, etc. These people were/are the elite of the academic world and the industry associated with cervid research, education, and management. The membership was mostly comprised of top ranking university profs and researchers all over the world, but it also included deer ranchers, working wildlife biologists, game wardens, veterinarians, etc., all of whom were obviously highly educated. I finally had to quit subscribing to their emails, because they were consistently riddled with trojans, viruses, and various forms of malware.

And guess whose emails were the source of the lion's share of the malware — it was almost always concentrated in mail that originated from the department heads at prestigious European or North American universities. Apparently they just assumed that they were immune to malware attacks because they only communicated with high level people at prestigious institutions, and they didn't waste any time surfing the web. Most of the working people on the list knew enough about the risks to keep the antivirus and anti-malware programs updated on their computers.

But the worrisome part is that if a real expert seriously wants to hack a computer, they will usually find a way to do it, if they're willing to spend enough time at it. And even with basic phishing emails, it only takes a split-second of distraction to fall into a trap, and in many/most cases we will not even be aware when it happened.

Tex