October '18
Site information and disclaimers
PLEASE - Do not give control of your computer to ANYONE unless you are absolutely certain who they are! For more information see our Self Help > Scams!
In this newsletter
- Various security thoughts
- Employees
- Passwords
- Scams
- and more
- Spam filters
- Opinions and miscellaneous
Various security thoughts
Do you have employees with remote access to important data? If they are leaving for whatever reason, be sure to remove usernames, change passwords or whatever else is necessary to protect your data. Albeit in China, a recent and disturbing example: Amazon employee sells data.
While former employees can be and have been prosecuted for data destruction and theft, that will be of little consequence if they adversely affected your business.
Another aspect of security which is nearly
impossible to control is copying/stealing data. While
an inspection of the employee's computer would reveal an online backup system like Carbonite, Dropbox, Google Sync, etc., unless you have a very good
security software like Symantec End Point, stopping someone from
copying data to a USB device is difficult at best.
Passwords: Hijacking of online accounts is fairly common, especially for those accounts having weak passwords such as common words, dates, nicknames, pet names and so on.
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If you have a weak password, change it! See making complex passwords.
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If you already have a complex password, add a two-step authentication. Microsoft (Outlook.com, Hotmail.com, Live.com, etc.), Google. If you have some other email, log into your online account and look for the authentication options.
Scams: When you receive a "support" phone call, hang up! Or, if you see a pop-up window on your PC, do not call the phone number. Microsoft's article, Windows 10 Upgrade scams and Dell's article on scams.
This is especially important for those running a business on their computers! More proof of just how weak Internet security is, and how gullible people can be: Some organizations have paid millions to recover system after ransomware.
Even for Cities, Government agencies and others with full-time IT departments. T-Mobile customer hacking and 70 some universities hacked. (If they can’t protect their system, we feel helpless…)
And recently: Facebook security breach affected 50 million people
Email: One in every one hundred email messages are dangerous. Removing spam from the numbers shows only about one-third of all email messages are "clean." ZDNet article.
Financial: Increasing numbers of American seniors are at risk of falling victim to schemes... Elder exploitation warning signs.
Voice assistants may offer hackers yet another way into your life. Symantec article
- While you can probably never go completely off the grid, this ZDNet article offers some really good advice about protecting your online presence.
Spam filters
Spam/virus filters are getting tighter these days in efforts of controlling email problems (reference above).
Lately, we are hearing complaints from a couple Windstream customers. A few are getting mail bounced back with the reason of possible spam/virus contents. Upon reviewing some of these bounces, we are finding not only are the messages clean, they are also very simple messages, i.e., no attachments or links.
These messages should not be getting filtered out, but they are because the server that is sending them is on a black list....
Here is the rejection statement forwarded to us from a customer (notice the IP address circled):
When we follow the suggested resolution link instructions, we see this:
If we then use a DNS tool to identify that IP address, we get the server name of "mail.windstream.syn-alias.com" apparently indicating that server has been responsible for spam or virus content in the past, then blocked by various filters. Along with Web.com/Networksolutions.com (above). Here are other filters also blocking that IP address:
If you are having this problem, the only thing we can suggest is to contact your provider's support and request they use the http://emailadmin.registeredsite.com tool to remove the block listing.
Well, maybe one more suggestion: Move to Gmail.com, Outlook.com or another online email system.
Opinions and miscellaneous
OMG! Are we really this stupid or is it just the litigate society we live in? We recently purchased a leaf blower and the manual's first SIX page are safety warnings and instructions. Things like this is not a toy, don't point at people or pets, do not use in rain or snow, do not disassemble the battery and so on.
(Old news by now but...) Trying to change history or perhaps naively, the end justifies the means, a bunch of brainwashed students are doing with this country's history and artifacts exactly what ISIS has done with ancient religious sites and artifacts.
Blue light from phones, computer monitors and the like may speed blindness, Macular Degeneration. The article. Makes us wonder about those irritating new headlights...
Stronger west winds blow ill wind for climate change...
Stronger westerly winds in the Southern Ocean could be the cause of a sudden rise in atmospheric CO2 and temperatures in a period of less than 100 years about 16,000 years ago, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The article.
(Yet) Another climate-change claim by former Vice President Al Gore is coming under fire, this one involving Hurricane Florence. The article.
Greenpeace co-founder Patrick Moore tells US Senate there is "no proof" humans cause climate change. The article.
As mankind "destroys the earth," many new species discovered. Articles.
Things will change with or without mankind around.
Before you buy a high end (really high end) car, you may just
enquire about the cost of an oil change!
The Bugatti
Veyron carries a whopping $25,000 oil change cost. Not a typo!
The article.
Jacksonville shooting: Wounded victims to file lawsuit. "The safety of Americans must always come before profits. It must always be people over profits," attorney said. The article. Suppose will this be pro bono work?
And here comes the next wave of class-action suits... Household disinfectants could be making kids overweight.
Leaving you with
It's a dangerous business going out your front door. - JRR Tolkien
Remember...
Thanks for all the help over these years, Jeff...