Tag Archives: Security

Why Are Companies Still Getting Hacked?

Security, Web Wise

It seems to be a recurring theme lately. We either hear in the news or read on social media that some other company has been hacked.  We all heard about the big Target breach which leaked personal data of 110 million (1/3 of US population) customers.

But many other companies have been hacked as well, but don’t make the big headlines like the Target breach.  Recently Kickstarter (respected crowd funding site), Snapchat and Skype’s social media accounts are among some of the other companies joining the hack attack crowd.

There are two simple answers to why this continues to occur.

  1. Criminal hacking, AKA as Crackers, is a full-time business that operates 24/7/365. While you sleep their still working. And the focus for these “businesses” is to get real dollars in the fastest way possible.  So they focus on the most popular companies with the largest audience for greatest gain.
    Read More

Managed Web Hosting VS. Non-managed Web Hosting

Hosting, Security

managed-web-hosting

Every website requires hosting service. Web Hosting service allows organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web.  Web hosts are companies that provide space on a server, typically in a data center, as well as providing Internet connectivity.



Since the average business or association does not own a web server and have the bandwidth to account for hundreds of visitors to their website,  they will need to “rent” a portion of someone else’s server for their website hosting. The hosting service fee is commonly based on a per month or annual cycle.
Read More

Beware of Heartbleed/OpenSSL Vulnerability Phishing Scams

News, Security, Web Wise

It seems like whenever there is a major virus outbreak or vulnerability announced, such as the Heartbleed vulnerability, scammers and malicious hackers are not too far behind trying to cash in on the moment and innocent.

Here is a phishing email (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing) recently received in one of my not-so-important email accounts. One that is used mainly for signing up for things like demos of products or coupons and promo codes.

Usually those places end up re-selling your email account, thus increase spam/phishing emails directed to that account. So I never use any of my main/important email accounts in those situations and neither should you.

Below is the subject and body of the message, along with a screen capture of what it looked like.

SUBJECT OF SPAM MESSAGE: Heartbleed/OpenSSL vulnerability: password change recommended

 

BODY OF SPAM MESSAGE: (hyperlinks removed for precaution)


Read More

Be Cautious : Cryptolocker Ransomeware On The Rise

Security, Software, Web Wise
Capture

In the past month, several antivirus companies have discovered a new ransomware variant known as Cryptolocker.   Ransomware is a type of malware on the rise that holds your precious files hostage for money.

It does that by searching your computer and shares for popular file extensions and encrypts them preventing you from accessing them ever again unless you pay up.

This type of ransomware does not spread to other PCs or replicate by itself.  This program needs your interaction to do its evil work.  Ransomware needs you to launch the program on your PC.  Of course, like phishing scams, It does this by trying to trick you into opening up some random attachment from a random email.

This attachment (could be a picture, zip file or other) contains the simple script to get it started doing its havoc on your PC.


If your PC gets infected then your files will more then likely be encrypted shortly after and will not be able to access them. It is impossible to decrypt the files without the private key. 


Read More