E-mail is being used for communication by businesses and individuals, and by cybercriminals for online attacks affecting everyone when not used carefully. Proofpoint, a security firm, has enumerated its 2009’s top 10 terrifying e-mail blunders:

• Trojan Horse Steals Bank Accounts – URLZone, a banking Trojan horse, was reported in September. It steals money while users are logged in their accounts displaying a fake balance. Computers get infected when you click a malicious link in an e-mail or visit a website with hidden malware. It also keeps your bank account login credentials, take screenshots, and sneak on your other web accounts like Facebook, Gmail, Paypal and more.

• FBI Forgery- FBI Director Robert Mueller’s wife prohibited him from doing online banking transactions after he had given his personal information to a phishing website. He received an email from what he thought was his bank verifying his information. He even filled out some information but realized in the end that it was not a good idea. So he changed his passwords and told the incident to his wife. That incident did not stop Mr. Mueller’s  from doing his online activities.

• White House Spam – It took place in August when the White House sent thousands of e-mail messages to Americans explaining its stand on the controversial health reform issue. It was spread through an e-mail account to create and dispel rumors. Nevertheless, the White House admitted that it was an unsolicited e-mail and blamed third-party groups for the mass e-mail.

• Hotmail Phishing – In October, thousands of Hotmail accounts were compromised where passwords were posted on some websites where developers normally share programming code. News site Neowin was able to see the list which had been removed and reported to Microsoft about the issue. In this particular phishing scam, the hackers sent out the list of the e-mail accounts with the letterhead of banks, eBay and other institutions, to convince the consumers that they have to reset their online passwords to their websites for security purposes. As soon as Microsoft discovered the scam, they blocked thousands of Hotmail accounts believing the accounts have all been hacked.

• Start-up Suicide – RockYou, a social media advertising and application start-up, sent out a mass e-mail to their customers and associates announcing their new site redesign last September. Instead of using BCC: in sending the e-mails, RockYou displayed the entire mailing list of over 200 e-mail addresses in the CC: field and those e-mail addresses ended up on a spammer’s list. After two months, RockYou sent another mass e-mail using a mailing list asking contractors to provide information for their W9 tax forms. Unfortunately, some people unintentionally send personal information to the entire mailing list.

• Gmail Account Deactivated – Last August, Rocky Mountain Bank in Wyoming sent names, addresses, social security numbers and loan information of more than 1,300 customers to a Gmail address by mistake. Realizing what they did, the bank e-mailed the same address asking the recipient to contact them and destroy the sent file without opening it but they didn’t receive a respond. The bank contacted Google asking for the account holder’s information. So, Google received an order from U. S. District Court Judge James Ware of the northern district of California deactivating the e-mail account and disclosing the identity and contact information of the Gmail account holder. The said Gmail user has not done any wrongdoing. From then on, anyone from the bank is advised to be watchful when sending e-mails and typing in the TO: field an e-mail.

• Payroll Panic – PayChoice, a payroll processor, was the victim of a website breach in September. The customers received targeted e-mails claiming to be from the company. The said e-mail is used to trick people into downloading malware or visit a website that will allow them to access the Onlineemployer.com PayChoice portal. The site was shut down and clients were notified within hours. The e-mails were spread through a Yahoo account with the links hosted from servers in Poland.

• UK Tax Error – HM Revenue & Customs, Britain’s tax authority, warned the people about scam e-mails using fake government e-mail address to convince recipients into revealing their personal information to receive a tax refund in return. Those e-mail messages are claiming that recipients were entitled to receive a tax refund, so they have to give their bank or credit card details so that their refund could be paid out. HRMC stated that they would never inform tax rebate through e-mail like most of the legitimate business and government organizations do or invite the people to complete an online form just to receive a tax rebate.

• Death, Taxes and Phish – In September, a fake e-mail notice was widely spread attacking against businesses and individuals and was claimed to come from the Internal Revenue Service. According to US-Cert, the attack was hidden in a fake e-mail with a subject line of “Notice of Underreported Income” which contains a link or attachment infected with a Zbot/Zeus Trojan virus. It is a program which steals credentials for banking login information.

• UCSD Message of Acceptance by Mistake – University of California San Diego mistakenly sent the same message of acceptance to all 46,000 students who took the college entrance where there are only 18,000 students who passed and accepted in the said university.

How Techie Now Can Help?

E-mails are being used to communicate for personal and business purposes. Cybercriminals also use them to steal one’s identity and money. So computers’ users must be careful when opening attachments or links in their e-mails because it might infect their PCs or steal their information especially if the computer is not protected. To protect your computer from any online attacks, contact Techie Now: virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair. Techie Now assists your PC needs better than what others do.

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Cyber criminals have started victimizing Verizon Wireless customers where they send out spam e-mail messages saying that their accounts are over the limit. Then they the customers a “balance checker” program to review their payments. These fake e-mail messages pretend to come from Verizon Wireless. Actually, the balance checker is infected a malicious Trojan horse program.

An antivirus research made at SonicWall shows that if you run the balance checker, your computer will be in danger. SonicWalls catches the infected Trojan with the name Regrun. The scammers were able to quickly flood the Internet with their spam a few hours after they started sending out the e-mail messages. SonicWalls had interrupted the messages of about 16 percent of its customers translating about 200,000 messages per hour on its sensors.

When you download the software, it opens up a back door to their computer allowing more malware to be downloaded from the Zbot botnet. The Zbot botnet is known for quietly stealing your online banking credentials and clearing your account. Of course, the pay-off for the cyber criminals is very huge. According to U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, this type of financial fraud has eliminated US$100 million from U.S. bank accounts. These criminals are really are finding new ways just to trick people and convince them to download their malicious software. As of now, this is the latest billing-cycle scam that they have.

How Can Techie Now Help?

Sending spam e-mail messages attached with a balance checker which is infected with a malware is one of the tricks that cyber criminals use victimize unaware computer users and costumers. For now, the best thing to do is keep updated anti-virus software for your PC protection. If you need assistance with any PC support services – like virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration, and general repair – Techie Now is willing to give you a hand in a better price. Contact Techie Now and enjoy your computer experience.

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Worm attack

The Internet is very useful to our everyday lives. However, we must know how to protect our PC from any online attacks. Viruses are one of the threats for PC users nowadays. Some send worms in chat message displaying a link to a web site which is also infected with a Trojan horse. Worms spread through programs exposing new vulnerabilities, then report them back to the hackers. The hackers will create the malware that will exploit the vulnerability before the people can download a fix.

Do you know what malware can do to your PC? Malware exposes your PC to online attacks. It also gives hackers direct access to your PC. It enables the hacker to get your personal information or control your PC remotely and be used in a criminal activity. Viruses are commonly found through peer-to-peer (P2P) networking. Spyware, Trojan horses, viruses and worms are being integrated into free downloads. Many users don’t know the danger of using the “browse host” feature of the P2P applications. It is very risky to use because it allows others to directly connect to your computer and browse through file shares.

Through using P2P, hackers can access your logins, user IDs and passwords, personal information such as letters, chat logs, cookies, and emails and other private and accessible folders on your PC. When it comes to email and instant messages, viruses in P2P files can steal your information, give it to cybercriminals to forge your identities and commit fraud.

You must protect your PC, follow these rules:

1. Protect your computer with updated security software. You need a security software that will protect your PC from hackers. Your computer should have an anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-phishing, anti-spam and firewall to fight online attacks. It should scan any files including disks, email attachments, files downloaded from the web, and documents generated by word processing and spreadsheet programs.
2. Use a secure Internet service provider (ISP). It should have anti-spam and anti-phishing procedures.
3. Always update your Windows automatically or to prevent your PC from any known vulnerabilities. You can install patches from other software manufacturers. A fully patched computer behind a firewall can prevent lessen the risk of being infected with a Trojan and spyware installation.
4. Be careful when opening attachments. Set your anti-virus software to scan all your email and instant message attachments automatically. Don’t open unwanted emails, or attachments even from people you know.
5. Be cautious when using P2P file sharing. Some Trojans are just hiding within the programs and waiting for users to be downloaded. Also be careful in downloading files through email and instant messaging like files with the extensions .bat, .bin, .dll, .cmd, .exe, .lnk, .scr, .com and .vbs.
6. Use security protections for your cell phone, PDA, and Wi-Fi devices. Viruses and Trojans can be attached through email/IM, downloaded from the Internet, or are uploaded along with other data from a desktop. In time, cell phone viruses and mobile phishing attacks will be popular especially now that more people are accessing multimedia services and Internet content using their phones. It is advisable if you always use a PIN code on your cell phone. Don’t ever install or download mobile software from unknown source.
7. Set your instant messaging application correctly. Don’t set your instant messaging to open automatically as your computer opens.
8. Watch out for spam-based phishing schemes. Never click on links in emails or IM.
9. Always back up your files. So if ever you become a victim of a virus attack, you can recover all your important files.

How Can Techie Now Help?

Virus and worms are easily spread over the Internet. With all these threats, you have to protect your PC to prevent online attacks. As soon you become their victim, it will risk your personal and business life. If you need help with anti-virus software installation or virus removal, Techie Now is the best PC support provider that can help you. We do it fast, safe, better and with lower prices than others do. Contact Techie Now and get your PC protected.

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Most banks nowadays provide online banking services. With the increasing number of cybercriminals, you have to be very areful when doing money matters over the web. One of the evidences was the discovery of the URLZone virus.

URL Zone is a new type of banking Trojan horse that steals your login credentials and steals your money from your account at the same time. It is said to be controlled by servers in Ukraine discovered by the help of the researchers of a security firm, Finjan. It targets Firefox, Opera and last three versions of Internet Explorer – IE6, IE7 and IE8. It displays your fake balance while you are logged in. It steals the exact amount money from your account during the time when you are logged in.

At present, the said virus is only affecting computers in Germany. Generally, URLZone infects your PC when you open an e-mail and click a link or visit an infected site. Once the virus infected your PC, URLZone waits for you to transact banking online. While you are doing your bank transactions online, the virus is also present in the background with the bank server and you not knowing that it’s already stealing your money. It sound impossible but it’s really happening.

URLZone virus cleans its tracks on your account by displaying a fake balance in your computer. Of course, it wouldn’t show the amount of your stolen money. You will be able to distinguish the discrepancy in your balance if you use an uninfected PC, use an ATM or your transaction is denied because of insufficient funds.

For your own security, you should always update and run your antivirus, spyware and firewall protection automatically. In this way, virus and other malware will not sneak to your PC, infect it and steal the money that you have been saving all your life. Use the latest version of your web browser. It’s not safe to use out-of-date web browser because it is often riddled with holes that worms can get through. You must update your operating systems critical security patches automatically. It is one of the best protections against any type of security threat. Bank account users like you should not click on unsolicited web links in e-mails that you receive. You should also check your bank statements frequently.

How Can Techie Now Help?

With URLZone virus being discovered, it warns people to be careful when doing bank transactions online. For the first time, a virus hijacks a user’s browser session, steals money while doing online banking, and clean its tracks by displaying fake information to you. Beware! If you are concerned that your computer may already be infected with a virus, seek a PC support to help you. Techie Now can help you with that! Techie Now offers better services including virus and spyware removal, performance optimization, installation and configuration and general repair for your PC needs. With Techie Now, your PC, money and identity are safe.

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Computers are widely used by people nowadays. With everyone being hooked up with Internet, computers are of big help for having fun, gaining knowledge and earning a living. Everyone is just eager to have their own computers and enjoy the benefits of these high tech equipments. Having a computer is not that easy especially when it comes to maintenance. Computer owners have to deal with malware. Do you know what a malware is?

Not techie people are not familiar with this malware thing. Some people are just concerned in how and where they’re going to use their computers. For a start, a Malware is software made for penetrating a computer without the informed consent of the owner. It is also called malicious software. It is one of the causes of annoyance of computer professionals. In other words, Malware is a program or file that is harmful to the user.

Ever heard of “computer” viruses? They are also types of malware. Also include worms, Trojan horses, rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware, crimeware and other malicious and unwanted software. Viruses and worms are the best-known types of malware. Any computer is always at risk of becoming infected with them. Some malware are made to do serious damage to the computer causing harm or data loss. Some are not harmless but annoying.

Malware is not faulty software.  The difference lies in the intent. Malware is written with an ilegitimate purpose. They can be accessed through the Internet, by World Wide Web or be sent in e-mail or instant messages. As a computer user, you must follow the below steps to reduce the risk of getting infected:

1. Be careful in opening e-mail messages or IM attachments. Make sure that they come from a trusted source.
2. Scan e-mail attachments before opening them.
3. Don’t read unwanted messages.
4. Don’t click links given by strange people.
5. Terminate your IM session if someone is sending you suspicious files, links or messages.
6. Scan all your files before transferring it to your computer.
7. Use a updated malware software removal for your computer security.

How will you know if your computer is infected with a malware?

Most times you can tell that a computer is infected with a Malware as it malfunctions and slows down. It also displays repeated error messages. You always experience having problems in shutting down and restarting the computer. A lot of pop-up ads always appear when you are and not surfing the web. However, sometimes you ay not notice anything as the malware cleverly hides itself while it performs ilegimate actions as such steal or sype on your information.

As soon as you know that your computer has acquired a malware, you must not do shopping, banking and other online activities that required getting personal information from you because you might be victimized by thieves online. It is advisable that you have active and current security software – anti-virus, firewall or spyware software – installed to protect your computer.

Always monitor your computer. Take immediate action if you find something unusual happening in your computer. Malware can be a big problem but it can be prevented if you want to. Prevention is still better than cure. Don’t let Malware be a threat to your system. Protect your computer now!

How Can Techie Now Help?

Your computer is not safe from being infected with the increasing malware over the Internet. They are everywhere! So you better protect your PC now with a good antivirus. If you need help choosing antivirus or if you think your antivirus is not effective then come to www.TechieNow.com. Techie Now is the PC support provider you can trust in for your computer security. We can assist you in any PC support services that you need. With us, you can be sure that your PC is protected 24/7.

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