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A computer virus is a program that can replicate itself and spread from one machine to another with the intent to corrupt or destroy data. Many resources have reported that in 2009, the number of viruses, worms, and trojans have topped the 1 million mark.
One of the most common ways viruses are spread is through the use of email. Commonly, the viruses are programmed to spread themselves by emailing a copy of the attachment in which they're hidden to all the other email addresses in an infected computer's address book. This is occurring more and more frequently with the increase of computer and email users. The more users, the more people there are in address books.
The emails are usually titled with subject lines that would encourage an email user to open it. Some examples are "I love you" or "See famous person naked." When the attachment is opened, the virus is activated, and the user's computer becomes infected. One of the best preventative measures is to not open attachments. Not opening attachments is unavoidable for some. In that case the source of the attachment should be fully researched and the attachment should be expected by the receiver. Often, attachments that end with the.vbs extension (Visual Basic script) or the.exe extension (program files) pose the greatest threat.
It seems that the motivation behind the viruses has changed over past years. In previous years, virus writers were most often out to reap havoc and gain infamy. More recently, virus writers have appeared to be working with spammers. The motivation is now financial, and the goal is to infect machines, self circulate the infection method and take control of thousands of automated machines to conduct spam operations via open relays (Sturgeon, 2003). It appears that in recent years virus writers have been reported to be hired by spammers.
Network security has been improving over the past few years in response to the growing number of viruses. There is more awareness and investments into the use of anti-virus software, as well as spam blocking software. With the increase in critical data and sophisticated hardware and software, organizations and individuals are spending more to prevent and detect viruses and worms that can be detrimental to the day to day operations. Global revenue from anti-virus software reached almost $10 billion in 2006 and has continually grown.
In conclusion, viruses and worms are becoming more complex because virus writers are trying to push the boundaries and improve upon what was already done. The number of email users is also greatly increasing. Therefore the volume of emails is increasing. Education about the potential risks of email is not always there for the younger users, so many email viruses are also spread by the younger or less informed users. Anti-virus software has been of increasing importance to network security and is shown by global spending.
Contact Tranztec Solutions, Inc. (http://www.tranztec.com) to schedule a network security evaluation today.
Works Cited:
Karp, Jack (n.d.). Viruses Explained. TechTv.com. Retrieved November 19, 2005, from the Computer Crime Research Center at http://www.crime-research.org
Kruse, W., & Heiser, J. (2004). Computer Forensics. 9th ed. Indianapolis, IN: Pearson Education.
Sturgeon, Will (2003). Re:Viewing 2003: The return of the virus. Silicon.Com.
Retrieved November 19, 2005, from the Computer Crime Research Center at http://www.crime-research.org
Joshua Maluchnik, M.I.T., MCP/MCTS
Account Manager | Sales Engineer
Tranztec Solutions, Inc.
http://www.tranztec.com
Most of us consider email an essential part of life these days. Unfortunately this popularity has led to an increase in viruses and fraud and it's important that you learn to protect yourself from these kinds of threats before it's too late.
Viruses
You should always be careful when opening an attachment from anyone, even someone you know well. Email viruses often arrive as part of an email attachment; they infiltrate address books and send infected e-mail to everyone in your address book so it's possible for you to receive a virus from a colleague or friend and it's possible for them to receive a virus from you.
Ideally, if you know you'll be sending attachments you should let the person know that you're sending an attachment so they know that it is safe to open as well. It's ideal if your contacts can return this favor too so everyone knows what's going on.
If you're concerned about email viruses the best thing you can do is to add anti-virus software to your computer (you should have this already in reality). The software scans every e-mail that you receive. This is especially relevant if you work in an environment where the computers are networked because of the viruses downloaded onto one computer it can infect the entire network and cause a massive amount of damage.
Phishing
Another popular security risk also arrives via email. This one is called 'phishing' and tricks the recipient into disclosing personal information and passwords. These e-mails often use the logos of a financial institution, online retailers and others to trick you into believing that the e-mail is real.
When you receive one of these phishing e-mails you will usually be told that the financial institution or other company needs a password or financial information from you. You'll be asked to click on a link in the e-mail which will send you to a third-party site and you will be asked to input your credit card information, PIN or your password information.
To determine if an e-mail is a phishing e-mail you can look at the text that comes along with the e-mail you receive. You will not be addressed by name but rather as a 'valued customer' or 'friend' - this should set off alarms straight away.
Another tipoff is you'll find a link that doesn't correspond to the text describing it. For example, if you check the status bar when you highlight the link the text might say something like Microsoft but the URL will be something completely different such as .don't go here.com.
There are specialized software programs that can detect phishing but they're not always as accurate as you would like them to be. The best solution for this is to simply be on your guard, not click on any links that look suspicious and certainly not give any personal information such as passwords or credit card information. If you really believe that the e-mail is on the up and up you can call the company and provide information that way.
Back up your email
Just like any other data, email should be backed up, on a regular basis. It can be easily done by exporting messages to a folder and backing up the folder with a backup program. The data will be backed up onto a removable disk, a writable DVD or CD or other kind of backup media.
If you want more assurance, you can purchase a backup e-mail program that will eliminate you having to do all the backing up yourself.
Are you worried sick about the threats that are out there waiting to harm your computer and your private information? You should be worried! A single virus can cause mayhem on your computer and destroy years of work or memories. Learn how to protect your PC with computer security programs that will let you surf and enjoy your computer time in peace. Click on over to http://www.CPUSecurity.com for more information.
The advancement of wireless technology has brought the world together, with easy and convenient access to information, whenever we need and wherever we are. Remote Email Access is one example of the flexibility provided by the remote access technology. Remote Email Access gives the user the ability to access, receive and send emails wherever he or she is located.
There are two approaches to Remote Email Access, depending on how conveniently and frequently you can access the computer. In case you have a computer at your disposal than the POP approach best works, but if you are dependent on a cyber café, than you may prefer web access instead.
POP stands for post office protocol and is the way real email systems work. To access your mail using POP, you need to access a POP server that verifies your username and password before granting you access to your emails. Once the mail is downloaded on your system, it is deleted from the POP server. You can access these mails even when you are offline. To access your mails through POP, you would use email client software such as Eudora, Pegasus or Outlook, or the email component of a web browser suite such as Outlook Express or Netscape Messenger.
An alternative way to access mails is to use a web browser such as MS Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator or Opera to visit a web site, than you need to sign in with a user id and password, and then read your mail online. The biggest advantage of web access is that you can check your mails through any computer that has a web browser installed. The only disadvantage is that you have to be online all the time while checking, receiving or sending mails.
Thus, you can use either of the two options according to your convenience and access and exchange your mails with your boss, friends or relatives, wherever you are.
Remote Access provides detailed information about remote access, remote PC access, secure remote access, remote internet access and more. Remote Access is the sister site of FTP Site Hosting.
Every time you connect to the email, you're taking a risk. Viruses, trojans, malware, spyware, worms, spam they're all nasty stuff designed specifically to pillage personal information or cause general mayhem on your computer as it innocently communicates with others.
The internet is insecure
As the internet is very insecure by nature -ie anyone can load anything on it - you need to take cautionary steps to protect yourself. Even harmlessly browsing through sites may get your computer affected with a virus or spyware without you even knowing it. Internet security is your protection against such intrusions and works by limiting your computer's exposure to online threats.
Measures to take
Basic measures involve protection by carefully selected passwords, file permissions and data backups. Unfortunately it doesn't end there. In the age of enterprising cyber criminals, installing anti-virus software, a personal firewall, anti-adware and anti-spyware as well as browsing software is essential. Such software can be bundled into a suite for you to buy to take the stress out of finding them separately. Some security tasks are automatically performed by your operating system; others must be managed and monitored by the user to be effective.
The first line of defense is a firewall. It works by allowing your computer to only connect to trusted sources - kind of like a hardware or software device that acts like a fence around your computer. Both hardware and software firewalls use a number of different techniques to keep your PC and network safe with all data (incoming and outgoing) inspected to see if it is coming from and going to trusted ports and possibly even trusted IP addresses. You can usually tailor your firewall to suit your needs by allowing exceptions and adding programs and websites.
Virus and spyware protection software, meanwhile, help you keep your files safe. Hackers insert viruses and spyware in website HTML, text files and software programs. Once downloaded and activated, these programs can destroy files, copy passwords and banking details and damage software programs. A general anti-virus program scans for such viruses and spyware either deletes or quarantines them for you.
What is your responsibility?
Users must also pay particular attention to common email security threats. Do not open email file attachments from unknown sources because this tends to be a major source of viruses. Clicking on active links in emails can redirect your browser to sites full of spyware, adware or worse. Phishing - or fake emails from trusted sources that ask for personal and financial information - can lead to identity theft. In general, your bank or credit card will never email a request for you to update your details. Common sense prevails here.
Warning
Also be warned that new internet threats appear daily. Keeping your security software updated is essential to your security plan. Review the default internet security settings and update settings for your operating system, browser, email program and all installed security software often. Schedule a daily or weekly time for your virus and spyware software to run and report your security status. If you are frequently finding that your computer has been invaded by spyware or viruses, upgrade your software or select stronger protection options.
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It's official now that E-mail has become the quickest, most reliable and convenient way of sending messages today. Because of this fact, it has also become the most targeted venue of frauds, scams, spam and other dangers. The majority of online users are oblivious to these dangers, you don't have to be. One of the most dangerous e-mail scams are Phishing sites.
What is a Phishing Site - Phishing sites are sites that are disguised as trust-worthy site, such as PayPal or A credit card processing company like Visa or A bank. The purpose of these sites is to trick you into giving up your private information, Such as your password, account name, bank number and credit card number. The criminals that are behind this are called "phishers". The phishers then can use your private information to steal all your money or commit cyber crimes.
Solutions To Phishing Sites - The phishing site emails are often disguised as a warning email telling you that someone has accessed your account or such; it will demand your immediate action. Don't be fooled by them!
Phishing sites are easy to tell once you know where to look. If the email provides you a link to click on, simply hover your mouse pointer over the link and look at your status bar. The status bar is often located to the bottom left corner of your browser. If the link contains a long string of html that contains a strange string of text with no associations with the companies' name on it, it is most likely a phishing site.
Why are they targeting you - You have become a target because you probably haven't been very careful with your email address. Phishers uses programs called "Email Leechers" to extract your email address. These programs will access a website and then scans it for any line of text that contains the "@" sign. It will collect all these names and create a massive list of email addresses that the phishers then can later use to commit cyber crimes.
There is no real solution to preventing your email address from falling to the wrong hands because if the phishers are persistent they can get your email address no matter what, but there are easy steps you can take to dithers their efforts and reduce the risks considerably.
1) Give a phony or throw away Email address - This is a no-brainer, create throw away email addresses, and keep your important email address for important matters. You can get all the free email addresses you want from Hotmail, Yahoo Mail or Mail.com.
2) Disguise your email address - On forums, use (a) or (at) or clever imitations of these if you are communicating with someone and needed them to send you an email. Let them now that they should replay the (at) with "@".
Example: "YourName123 (at) Mail.com"
3) Don't Give out your Email Address - This is simple never ever give out your email address unless you know exactly who you are giving it to.
4) Download Anti-Spam Programs - Anti-spam programs can automatically identify and filter good sites from bad sites from your Email inbox. You can also manually add your own list of trusted sites to customize who you want to receive messages from and you don't.
Phishing is a crime and you don't need to be a victim, Takes these steps and precautions and you will have a very safe time online. Here's to you and a safer internet experience.
Please Visit [http://www.AntiSpamTop5.com] For the Latest in Email Security And Top 5 Anti-Spam Reviews.
MAAWG recently released a document on email appending, criticizing the practice and describing it as abusive.? But what is email appending?? From the document:
“Email appending” is also known as “e-appending” or “e-pending.”? As used in this document, it refers to taking known demographic information and using various methods to determine an email address for the purpose of adding people to a list or otherwise sending them email messages.
This definition is alright but I didn’t find it as helpful as it could be.? I looked it up on some other sites and I have a better description.
Suppose you are a marketer with a list of people and their mailing addresses.? These are people who like to receive information about upcoming flights on airlines because they travel a lot.? Suppose your list looks like the following:
Fred Flintstone
Fabrikam Industries
175 NE 22nd Pl
Flint, MichiganFrank Grimes
Tesla Productions
725 Evergreen Terrace
Springfield, Illinois John Bauer
Woodgrove Bank
4888 Cowell Bay #12
Key West, FloridaJeff Johnson
Nert
61221 W Jackson St
Arcadia, California
Every once in a while, you send them deals from Alaska Airlines about a great business package from Atlanta to Seattle.? Or you send them a deal from American Express offering them two round trip tickets anywhere in the US for the price of one (but the one ticket costs as much as two).
The problem is that sending stuff over mail is slow and the response rate isn’t great, and as Netflix has so eloquently reminded us, the physical media business is dying.? Also borrowing from the Netflix model, you decide to annoy your customer base by changing something that wasn’t broken and attempt to get into the email communication business.
You go out and find an online marketer who has a list of email addresses.? You take a look at their list and it contains the following names:
ksmith@fabrikam.com
john.baker@woodgrove.com
maddox@weevils.org
jj@nert.com
fgrimes@tesla.net
jimmybindlesnoot@tesla.net
You browse through the list and while some of the domains are on there that might be associated with someone on your list, you don’t see anything stand out… until you get to fgrimes @ tesla.net.? Wait a minute… you just so happen to have a Frank Grimes who works at Tesla in your database.? Could they be one in the same?? Well, there’s a pretty good chance of that so you take fgrimes’s email address and update your database, putting it into Frank Grimes’ contact information.
Having gotten into the email business, you send out a communication to fgrimes@tesla.net containing the next airlines deal.? What a cheap an inexpensive way to build a mailing list!
Except that fgrimes is not Frank Grimes.? The email addresses belongs to Foster Grimes, the director of IT in Tesla.? Foster doesn’t take too kindly to receiving mail to his email address when he never opted into it… he knows he has never opted into it and takes steps to block the unsolicited commercial email.? Your marketing company can no longer deliver to Tesla.? You’re lucky that this email address wasn’t a honeypot.
In this sense, building an email list is prone to errors.? It doesn’t follow that people with similar names are the same people.? There is a probability of it, and it may be greater than 50% odds, but it is closer to 50% than it is 100%.? If you are going to scape lists like this, you will end up with wrong email addresses for a large proportion of your database, and you will be sending unsolicited commercial email.
Furthermore, even if you do get it right, it doesn’t follow that someone who has opted in to regular mail has also opted in to email.? I get all sorts of stuff in the mail I don’t want.? I get offers from credit card companies all the time, and grocery stores all the time, and religious organizations all the time.? I don’t remember opting in to any of them, but for the sake of discussion, let’s say I did.? Thank goodness I didn’t give them my email address!? I do not want them sending me email and regular mail!? No way!
If I give you my mailing address, then you have permission to send me mail.? That’s it.? You do not have permission to contact me by any means you wish, you have permission to contact me by the method I say you can.? That’s all.? No more (and I wouldn’t mind less, either).? If you go out of your way to hunt down my email address, good for you.? But you can’t use it to send me email because I never said you could send me email.? I know how I want to be contacted, and I told you.
And that’s it.? I want to control what mail comes into my email inbox.? If I didn’t say you could and you send me advertising mail then I would probably consider you either a spammer or a bulk mailer wearing a dark gray hat.
That’s why email appending is bad.
