It seems that the pace of trouble by being online changes almost as fast as the benefits of being online. October was a tough month for new troubles and I wanted to highlight just a few of them for you. First of all, a new round of bogus software from seemingly legitimate sources is cropping up. Several bad guys have released programs that mimic or outright COPY the names and logos of legitimate businesses. The old term for this was phishing. But this new round of malicious software gets installed on your PC or server with a Microsoft logo and makes you believe that you need to go to a web site and BUY something to fix the problem that it found. The crazy thing is that the bogus Microsoft software is actually written by a bad guy and is trying to trick you into paying to remove the problem they installed! Be very careful when downloading and installing new software. Also, be aware of new programs that suddenly appear on your PC.
Along similar lines, Microsoft released a new warning for servers to security patch systems. (See http://www.microsoft.com/security/default.mspx and the October 23 release.) Many of my clients have me regularly on site and remote accessing sites to patch systems. If you have not heard from ACE this month, give us a call.
The real key to keeping all of your PC's and laptops secure in addition to secure servers will take a few steps. Number one is maintaining your firewall at a good secure level. Number two is maintaining your anti-virus and anti-spyware software at fully patched levels and checking their scan results regularly. The next step is to run your Windows Updates at least monthly and when you receive notifications from ACE or Microsoft to update. And one of the last things to regularly maintain is a keen eye on your systems for any irregular or suspicious behaviour.
Between keeing your systems protected and looking for potential troubles and being vigilant, you can be ahead of troubles before they get into your systems!
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