Tag Archives: Virus

Watch Out for Fake Emails from Associations or groups you may know or be members of

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Be aware that scammers or hackers are sending fake emails supposedly from Associations or groups you may know or be members of.  In the event that you get an email asking if you have an Amazon account or asking you to buy money cards, delete it immediately. No reputable group or association will ever send a email request for you to put money into an account, buy gift cards or any other personal request of that nature.

For general reference, opening an email does not put you at risk. Clicking on links or opening attachments etc can cause issues.

Opening EMAIL is Generally Harmless

In the past, just opening an email could allow it to run harmful code and infect your computer with a virus or other unwanted program. You’ll be happy to hear that just opening an email is unlikely to expose you to anything nefarious or open the door to any unwanted computer infiltrators. No matter what program you use (Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Outlook Apple Mail, or any other standard web-based or desktop email client), just opening an email should be safe.

Unfortunately, some emails may try to cause harm to or access your system once they are open. Again, you hold the key to preventing them from succeeding. This is because the attachments or links in the emails that lead to harmful websites or programs can’t open and work their evil magic unless you click on them! It’s a good rule of thumb to only open attachments that you are expecting and know are safe, from verified senders whom you know to be safe. Error on the side of even more caution if the attachment is a file a unless you are absolutely sure it is safe. As with everything on the web, you shouldn’t run programs that try to automatically download onto your computer after you click a link. If you have any doubts about an attachment to or a link in an email, contact an IT professional before taking any action.

Use ANTI-VIRUS PROGRAMS on Windows, and good sense

It’s important to keep your software up-to-date, including your mail client, browser, browser plugins, and operating system. Most importantly, if you run a Windows PC, make sure you install and run a quality antivirus program—and keep it up to date. An antivirus program scans your computer and removes malware that has made it onto your computer; it can also monitor your internet connection and block virus attacks and websites known for distributing viruses before they even make it on to your computer. So, if you do accidentally click a link inside an email, it provides another layer of protection against harm.

If you’re running a Mac, Apple takes care of much of this for you. There are still issues with spyware or malware, but viruses are typically not a problem.

Your email program likely also has filters that help sort out “junk” email before it hits your inbox. You can help these filters work better by marking email messages as unwanted instead of opening them; click the checkbox next to the message and then select “mark as junk” or “report as spam” (or whatever similar option your email program has). This helps your email service keep similar messages and messages from the same sender out of your inbox completely.

Here is a perfect example.  This email says its from Apple Support.  But when you hover over the link to login to the support site to fix the issue they say you have, not the location where the link is going.

That location definitely is not an Apple sSupport site.  Don’t click it.  Its a scam.

Use MALWAREBYTES to Scan Your Computer for Malware

Even if you don’t have a virus, your computer or browser may be infected with Malware.  Malware usually gets installed from browsing to a hosting website or seeing an ad on the internet.  We could talk for quite a while about how or why this gets created but suffice it to say that it is very prevalent on Windows PC’s, Mac’s or Android Phones.  Thus far, Apple has been successful in keeping malware off of iOS devices like iPhones and iPads.

Regardless, of how you get it, if you suspect something on your computer or Android Phone is not quite right, download Malware Bytes from www.malwarebytes.com.  The free version is all you need.  Run the software once installed and allow it to quarantine anything it finds.  Then restart your machine and run it a second time. If the second scan comes back clean, you have likely gotten rid of it.

Finally, use good common sense when you receive an email that seems unusual or “too good to be true,” and, in general, avoid clicking through links in emails. One common fraud scheme, called “phishing,” employs authentic-looking emails from real companies to entice recipients to click links or visit sites and turn over personal information. Many times you can hover your cursor over the link in the email and see where it takes you.  If it looks odd, don’t click on it.

If you receive an email from a company you do business with—for example, Amazon.com—purporting to give you information about your account or order, it’s a better practice to navigate directly to the website by typing its address in the URL bar and review your information within the authentic site.

As always, think before you click.  Call someone and describe the issue to them.  If you see a screen on your device telling you to call a phone number, never do it.  It is always a scam.

Can virus problems on Windows get any worse?

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imageJust when you thought you’d seen it all. Spyware that locks up your computer, viruses bit force your computer to crash, annoyances that pop up windows over and over, but you haven’t seen the worst of it. There is a whole new class of virus making its rounds on the Internet, and this one’s about as bad as it can get.

The industry is calling the term ransomware. And that does a pretty good job of describing it. Ransomware is a virus that once installed on your computer encrypts all of your files with a high-quality encryption key and then asks you to pay to have your files released from encryption.

The definition of ransom where is as follows:

Ransomware is a type of malware which restricts access to the computer system that it infects, and demands a ransom paid to the creator(s) of the malware in order for the restriction to be removed.

It sounds hard to believe, or something you would only see on TV, but it’s very prevalent on the Internet right now. Typically this type of virus gets installed by normal means. Machines that are not running antivirus software, or people who either don’t read the dialog boxes that pop up or pay no attention and click on them. But once it’s installed, this virus is much more than an annoyance. It silently, and in the background, encrypts all of your files so that you can no longer open them up. If you try to open one of the files your ask for the encryption key, which the virus sets and you have no control over. Then, once it’s done all of the damage, it pops up a box on the screen requesting you to pay to get the encryption key. And they don’t ask for just a few dollars like some of the old viruses, they typically ask for between $300 and $500 to get the encryption key and unlock your files.

If your computer gets to the point that it asks you to make a payment you’re pretty much out of luck. The only hope you might have would be if you have your good back up and can recover files from the back up. But if your backup drive is connected and running all the time there’s even the chance that it’s encrypted your back up.

I’ve run into this situation twice in which even though the user was backing up their computer the backup was connected and was encrypted also.  And since these viruses use very capable encryption software, there is really no way to get your files unlocked unless you pay their fee. Most of these ask that you pay the fee through prepaid cards that you purchased at Walmart or Walgreens. You then send the card numbers to a particular website and hope that they provide you the key to unlock your files. If this sounds grim, your understanding correctly. It is.

Often, the ransomware will claim you have done something illegal with your PC and that you’re being fined by a police agency or government. These claims are absolutely false. It is just a scare tactic design to get you to pay the money without telling anyone.

So what’s a person to do? Well if you’ve already been infected with ransomware, it’s pretty much too late. Hopefully you’re back up will not be encrypted, and we can erase your computer reinstall your software, and restore your backup files. But if you’re back up is locked up also, you may just be out of luck. You could always pay the fee and hope for the best. But paying the fee encourages more of this and in the long run may cost you much more in the future.  And there’s no guarantee that your files will ever be accessible again, even if they send you a key.

If you were to pay their fee, you need to recover your files, copy them off of your computer, and then do a full erase and reinstall of the computer.

If you’re reading this, and you use Windows, your best option is to have a back up that is not connected to your computer, preferably offsite to protect you from fire and other catastrophes.  You should also reinforce the rules of safe computing within your household to ensure that no one does anything that might infect you with a virus such as this.

  • Verify that your backup is running
  • Keep your antivirus software up-to-date
  • Install spyware software and run it at least once a month
  • Don’t click on pop ups
  • Don’t update software for my pop up while you’re in the browser. Always go to the vendor website and download from there
  • Be diligent as you compute. If something looks funny don’t click on it. If you see signs that there something wrong with your computer get help immediately and don’t just hope that it will go away

If you follow a few of these rules, and ensure you have that good off-site backup, the likelihood is you can recover from something like this. But most importantly, don’t be the person who tells me they had planned to back up tomorrow when they have an occurrence such as this. Never put off till tomorrow a backup but you could run today.