Computer Medic On Call

6 Ways to Help Identify a Malicious Email Remember when you could easily identify phishing emails because they all came from a foreign prince who wanted to share his wealth with you? As with all cyber attacks, malicious emails have evolved to the point where they look like they came from the person or company the bad actor is trying to imitate. Here are some things to watch out for: You don’t know or trust the sender – Not all malicious emails come from an unknown sender (see Google Docs Phishing Attack), but many will. Spelling errors – These could be in the company name, email domain, or anywhere throughout the email. The “To:” line looks suspicious – This could mean it is blank or contains an email address that doesn’t look legitimate. You are asked to verify account information or an order you don’t remember placing – When in doubt, do not click links in the email. Go to the webpage you typically log into without clicking links and make changes and/or verify ...

Data Security and How it Drives Business Major data breaches seem to hit the news everyday. The stakes for companies are high.  Recent research  by Cisco showed that 29% of breached organizations lost revenue. Breaches can impact companies of all types, from large corporations to small hospitals. On the black market, health care records reportedly  sell for $50  apiece. Social Security numbers only sell for $1. The Federal Government says “endpoints” are one of the largest areas of vulnerability for the US. Endpoints are notebooks, desktop computers, mobile devices, servers – basically anything connected to the IT system. That can include medical devices and military sensors. In fact, “Endpoint Epidemic,” a recent study from  MeriTalk , found that  44 percent of federal government endpoints are unprotected or even unknown . Even more alarming is the lack of qualified experts. The ISACA, a non-profit information security advocacy group, predicts ...

Understanding Spyware is the First Step to Preventing It What Is Spyware? Spyware is any program that accumulates data from a system without being discovered by that system’s user. Data that is typically targeted includes passwords and credit card credentials, email addresses, and even keystrokes and browsing habits. The key to a program being labelled as spyware hinges on the idea that it was installed without the user’s consent. This is often accomplished by attaching the malicious software to another program that the user is installing by choice. Spyware can also be spread through other methods that malware utilizes – including compromised websites or emails. Spyware is a massive epidemic, with an estimated 90% of home PCs being infected with some form of spyware. The Issues that Spyware Will Cause If your system is infected with spyware, it can cause some serious operational deficiencies. Since the device’s resources are tied up by the spyware, your system is li...