[Hidden-tech] Why phishing won't go away

[Maria Korolov]

It gets worse.

If hackers get access to your computer, they can install malware that waits
for you to log in to the official site THEN replaces pages or requests with
their own.

And they can install that malware on your machine without you ever clicking
on a phishing link or even going to a corrupted website -- they can buy an
ad on a legitimate site, and the ad will install the malware without you
even knowing about it.

Best practices to follow:

Keep your browser up-to-date and patched. Most users of Internet Explorer
are running an older or unpatched version. Run the update, or switch to
Chrome, which auto-updates. And even when using Chrome, remember to shut it
down all the way once in a while -- that's when it installs the updates. If
you just put your computer to sleep at night instead of shutting it off, so
that Chrome doesn't get turned off, you'll never get the updates.

Install your Windows and Java updates as they come out. Java
vulnerabilities in particular are some of the worst. Or, like some folks
suggest, switch to Mac or Linux which pose less of a tempting target for
hackers.

Keep your antivirus up to date. If you can't afford the big names, get one
of the good free ones -- Avast, AVG, Panda, Avira. And get Malwarebytes
(also free) as a backup for when you suspect that you still got an
infection and want to clear it out.

Use a password management tool like Dashlane or LastPass or 1Password or
RoboForms or Keepass. Dashlane, in particular, will replace most of your
passwords with new, long, secure passwords with one click. Some are cloud
based, some let you save all your passwords in encrypted form locally,
depending on your preference. Many will work with two-factor authentication.

Use two-factor whenever available. If you ask your bank to transfer all
your money to Bolivia, your bank should call you and double-check that
transaction. That's two-factor authentication. In addition to phone calls,
other types of two factor are SMS messages, email confirmations, secret
questions, fingerprint scans, face scans, voice scans, USB fobs -- the list
is growing every day. The more important the service, the more important it
is to have two-factor. Pick one that's convenient enough for you to use --
having two-factor and not using it is, of course, as bad as not having it
at all. For example, many systems will only ask for the second factor when
you do something unusual -- like log in from a strange computer, or add new
payees to your online bill pay -- and that could work well.

And, finally, don't download and install strange software. Use software
from companies you trust, downloaded from official sites.

I've become a lot more paranoid lately, since I've starting covering this
for CSO magazine a couple of months ago. (
http://www.csoonline.com/author/Maria-Korolov/)

Stay safe!

-- Maria

___________________________________________________________________
Maria Korolov • Freelance finance and technology reporter • 508-443-1130
CSO <http://www.csoonline.com/author/Maria-Korolov/> • CIO
<http://www.cio.com/author/Maria-Korolov/> • Network World
<http://www.networkworld.com/author/Maria-Korolov/> • PC World
<http://www.pcworld.com/author/Maria-Korolov/> • Independent Banker
<http://independentbanker.org/?s=maria+korolov&submit=Search> • AFP Exchange
<http://www.afponline.org/search.aspx?searchtext=korolov>

On Sun, Jan 25, 2015 at 12:07 AM, Jan Werner <jwerner at jwdp.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> Robert Heller wrote:
> > At Sat, 24 Jan 2015 14:14:04 -0500 "Allen Belkin" <albelkin at comcast.net>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> MIME-Version: 1.0
> >> If I have any doubt that an email is phishing, I just hover my mouse
> over
> >> the link (being careful not to click!). It's usually obvious that the
> >> website does not belong to the company that claims to have sent it.
> Often
> >> it's from another country (the domain ends in something like .ru or .br,
> >> etc.).
> >
> > An important rule-of-thumb: NO banks, etc. ever send E-Mail asking you
> for
> > authentification of any sort. Basically this is true of *any* financial
> > instisution. Any E-Mail from a bank, from PayPal, from a Credit Card
> company,
> > etc. that is any more than a purely informative message (that you might
> have
> > expected), is a phishing E-Mail.
>
> It's not much more difficult to duplicate the look and feel design of a
> web site than it is to duplicate the look of a bank's email messages.
>
> The smarter phishing attempts today don't ask for information directly
> but try to steer you to a web site that looks legitimate, where they can
> intercept your information before passing you on to the real site.
>
> That's why you should always go to your bank's site from your browser's
> address bar or bookmarks, rather than by clicking on a link in an email.
>   Banks may not ask you for information, but as long as they continue to
> include links to their sites in emails they are encouraging this kind of
> phishing activity.
>
> The original phishing email that I received was extremely clever, with
> real Intuit logos and wording.  It also had a number of links that
> actually led to Intuit, but with a couple of links to some rather
> innocuous sounding false URLs scattered among them.  As I said in my
> original post, I usually just delete this kind of thing, but this one
> was so well designed that I felt I should let Intuit know about it.
>
> Jan Werner
>
> >>
> >>
> >> Allen Belkin
> >>
> >> Custom Software Solutions
> >>
> >> PO Box 60144, Florence, MA 01062
> >>
> >> E-mail:   <mailto:albelkin at comcast.net> albelkin at comcast.net
> >>
> >> Phone:  (413) 552-9080
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> MIME-Version: 1.0
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
> >> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
> >>
> >> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion
> list.
> >> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
> >> page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
> >> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members
> >>
> >>
> >
> _______________________________________________
> Hidden-discuss mailing list - home page: http://www.hidden-tech.net
> Hidden-discuss at lists.hidden-tech.net
>
> You are receiving this because you are on the Hidden-Tech Discussion list.
> If you would like to change your list preferences, Go to the Members
> page on the Hidden Tech Web site.
> http://www.hidden-tech.net/members
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.hidden-tech.net/pipermail/hidden-discuss/attachments/20150125/085bfa80/attachment.html