According to Symantec, over 40 million people have fallen victim to “scareware” scams in the past year. Online criminals make millions off these scams, by simply convincing computer users to download fake anti-virus software. Scareware sellers deliberately use pop-up ads that are designed to look legitimate, using the same styles as Microsoft and other software providers. They often appear when a user switches between websites, and falsely warns that the computer’s security has been compromised. If the user clicks on the message, they are directed to another site where they can purchase the fake anti-virus software.
Attorney General Rob McKenna called the practice a “blatant rip-off of consumers,” explaining that users were being “duped into downloading a fake scan (of the computer) and then duped into paying for software they don’t need”.

Software deemed useless by the suite include Scan & Repair, Antivirus 2009, MalwareCore, WinDefender, XPDefender and WinSpywareProtec.

On Monday, news reports announced that hackers gained access to several thousand Hotmail accounts through a possible phishing attack. According to the BBC, the list of hacked e-mail addresses also contained information from Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Comcast and EarthLink accounts.

“We recently became aware of a phishing scheme through which hackers gained user credentials for web-based mail accounts including a small number of Gmail accounts. As soon as we learned of the attack, we forced password resets on the affected accounts. We will continue to force password resets on additional accounts if we become aware of them,” the Google spokesperson wrote.

Identity theft is a real problem, and this report is just the tip of the iceberg. So how can you make sure your personal information is safe?

Here are a few tips:

1. Never click through any warnings about certificates. That’s a red flag– one you should not ignore.
2. Be very careful when opening unsoliticed attachments and links from any source.
3. Install and regularly update your anti-virus software.

In my last post, I explained why tape backup may not be the best solution. Many business owners still commit to this old standard because, let’s face it, old habits die hard. Change is difficult, especially when that change must implemented by an entire department or business. Ultimately, you need to decide which is better – to sacrifice more time and money just so you can resist change, or to bite the bullet and improve business productivity.
So… if you are ready to consider making the change, what are your options?

Option #1 – Using a CD/DVD

If your data doesn’t change a lot, you can use a CD/DVD recorder to backup your updated files.

Benefits:
• Backups are fairly fast
• Media is compact
• More affordable than tape backups
• Anyone with a CD/DVD drive can access the files

Drawbacks:
• Most people can’t fit a complete backup on a DVD
• It’s difficult to automate backups

Option #2 – External hard drive

Quite possibly the best backup solution. You will, however, need at least two drives so you can cycle one off site.

Benefits:
• Costs as little as 10 cents per GB
• Fast
• Reliable
• Easy to recover

Drawback:
• If you use an external hard drive with USB, the maximum transfer rate for the interface is determined by the other USB devices in use. We recommend using Firewire, since it is faster.

Option #3: Online backup

This is a quick, easy way to backup important data off-site.

Benefits:
• Convenient
• Costs less to setup and run
• Great option if you travel frequently
• No need to purchase or maintain backup hardware

Drawbacks:
• Requires high-speed internet connection.
• Possible cost and speed issues if you need to backup large amounts of data

Of course, this is just a basic overview of your backup options. The best backup solution depends on your business environment and the priorities you set. If you’re not sure what those are, just ask the experts.

If your small business is running Windows SBS 2003 or earlier, your server already has a tape backup built-in. This backup solution used to make sense in the dark ages of computers, way back when floppy drives had enough space to hold your programs. But the dark ages of backup have passed. If you’re using a tape backup for your small business, it’s time to enter the age of backup enlightenment.

What’s wrong with tape backup?

There are several reasons why this old industry standard needs to be buried:

• Buying and maintaining a tape backup requires a significant investment, especially if your business grows.
• A lot of administrative work is required, and that time could be better spent on core business functions.
• Every time you run backup, your computers have to go down. This downtime makes backup inconvenient.
• Tape backup limits your recovery point objective (RPO). For example, if disaster strikes in the afternoon, you lose the entire day’s work.

Even after all this investment and effort, your company data remains vulnerable to disaster. A SearchSecurity survey of 500 IT departments reported that up to 20% of all nightly backups fail to capture all data. Another survey found nearly 40% of IT managers were unable to recover data from a tape when they needed it. One incident alone can cost your company thousands of dollars in downtime and lost data.

Ok, so maybe tape backup isn’t the best solution. Then what is? Well, I’ll leave that for another post…

It’s shocking to think something as private as your credit card number could be stolen so easily…

Alberto Gonzales and three other men were indicted on Monday for stealing over 130 million credit card numbers from several Fortune 500 companies. So how did he do it? Simple. Gonzalez and his team was able to exploit end users that didn’t know how poor their security was by launching “hacking platforms” on each of their point-of-sale systems, along with the classic SQL-injection attacks. He then used malware to extract credit and debit card numbers.

The companies hit hardest were ones who had taken their security systems for granted. Makes you think twice about your network security, doesn’t it? Just think of all the money and classified information at stake…

To read the full story of this harrowing identity theft, click here.

Netgear just announced its latest product for the small business market: the ProSafe 8-Port VPN Firewall (model FVS318G). At only $139, this firewall is ideal for small businesses that need externally facing network resources like a Web server but have strict internal LAN security requirements. The new firewall also employs a software-configurable hardware DMZ port to help facilitate a server connection or another connection for a device on the network that remote users need to access.

“Our experience with the FVS318G on the network has been very positive,” said Johnny Chin, president and chief executive officer at Onesimus Enterprises, whose company participated in the beta test program. “For the price, we were impressed with the level of features offered along with enhanced security measures against outside attackers. Best of all, it’s fast enough to keep up with our high-speed broadband Internet connection, so we’re both protected and running at top speed.”

_{How it works:}

Scene: Joe S. from Accounting takes his work laptop to a nearby café. His computer automatically picks up a public wireless signal, so he sits in the corner with his cup of coffee and browses the web. He searches for an e-book on the mating habits of Parakeets, and what luck- finds one and downloads it to his PC. Then he decides to check his personal e-mail. There’s one new message. The subject line says “Mothers Day Confirmation Order”. Funny. He doesn’t remember buying his mom a present. He opens the link anyway.
The next day, Joe brings his laptop back to work and tries to power it up. No such luck. That seemingly innocent e-mail was actually a virus- the “Love” bug. The pain didn’t end there, though- oh no. When Joe S. opened the attachment in that e-mail, the virus went straight to work, sending a similar e-mail to everyone in his contact list. Many of those people were co-workers, a few of which used their work computer to open the e-mail. Within hours, the virus spread not only to Joe, but through his work.

I’m a hard-core PC user, but I still find the Mac vs. PC videos insanely funny. One of my favorites pokes fun at my least favorite Vista feature: User Account Controls. Windows 7, for all it’s glory- features the Kapersky Anti-Virus, which does the same thing (always bugging you to “Allow” or “Block” specific programs).

Security firms are warning of a big increase in attacks that target instant messaging systems.

Security Center researchers uncovered 21 new malicious code attacks traveling over IM networks in April. Worms that topped the list include ArcServe, IMspread, QVOD, IRCBot and Tiotua. Most, if not all, of these worms target the public IM networks such as AIM, Yahoo, and GoogleTalk. For businesses that have deployed closed instant messaging systems, the risk is minimal. Most of these threats travel like e-mail worms and users have to click  a link to get infected.

Responza’s rule of thumb – don’t accept messages from screen names you’re not familiar with and never, never, never accept links from strangers.