Crime and Punishment

This week was all about spam and phishing. One of the first websites we read was about spam.

http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/email-scams.aspx

This site listed the top 10 email scams to watch out for. It gives you the catch to the scam and explains a safety net to you. This is a very good site to check out. I highly recommend it to everyone. It is worth your time. There was also a little quiz to take that helps teach you how to spot a scam in your email.

The second challenge given to was to view four emails and we had to figure out if they were real or fake. They are all fakes, but the trick is to know just by looking at them. My favorite is the two photos combined together to create the image of a shark jumping out of the water at a diver on a rope ladder dangling from a black hawk helicopter.

Thirdly we watched a cute little video on phishing scams. The simplistic approach really made understanding what phishing scams are and how they work, easy to understand. I have included the video for you all to watch.

And here’s a funny music video to go along with the phishing scam.

Phishing scammers prey on those who are uneducated in the ways of modern technological scamming. When I was young and new to the internet, I was “hooked” by a “Phisherman”. I was using AOL at the time; I think it was version 8 or 9. I received an email about the account and I was stupid enough to click the link. My first clue that something was up should have been the fact that the webpage that came up said AOL version 3.0. I figured someone had forgotten to update that information on the page. Well I foolishly entered my ID and Password and the very next day when I tried to access my account, it was shutdown. AOL had locked my account because the “Phisherman” used my account to send out 500 spam emails in less than 5 minutes of having my account. I had to contact AOL and have my old account deleted and brand new account setup.

I was so mad and embarrassed at the same time. I was angry that someone did that to me, and embarrassed that I was gullible enough to fall for the trick. It could have been a lot worse. It could have been my bank account or credit card information. I was lucky it was something as simple as my email account and that it was only used for spam. So please be careful with your email, and another tip. If any of you are using email software with a preview pane (or window), turn it off. The preview window still marks the email as read and can inform a potential scammer that they have found an active email account and will pursue you as a potential target. So my little fishies, stick to the waters you’re used to and avoid strange tempting worms attached to a hook.

Some helpful tips on safeguarding your privacy online

Some helpful tips on safeguarding your privacy online.

Let us start with the easiest to take care of – Cookies. Cookies are simple text files that websites use to store information on your computer. But companies like DoubleClick have found a way to exploit cookies to mine data about your habits online and use that information to target pop-up ads aimed at what you might want. The easiest way to counter this is to block all cookies from being saved to your computer. If there are no cookies there, then companies like DoubleClick cannot harvest any information.

In Windows 7, this is how you would set Internet Explorer to block all cookies.

Step 1 – In the upper right hand corner of internet explorer you see a series of icons and words. Look for the word Tools and click on it.

Step 2 – After clicking on Tools, you will be presented with a drop down menu. All the way on the bottom of the menu is Internet Options. Click on Internet Options.

Step 3 – After clicking on Internet Options from the drop down menu the Internet Options window will appear. Along the row of tabs you will see one called Privacy. Select the Privacy tab.

Step 4 – Once you have selected the Privacy tab you will see this window. Just about in the middle of the window are four buttons:  Sites, Import, Advanced, and Default. You want to select Advanced.

Step 5 – Once the Advanced Privacy Settings window opens, you are presented with some options as to how Internet Explorer should handle cookies. The first thing you want to do is click in the box that is next to Override automatic cookie handling. The best thing you can do to protect your privacy is to set both First-party and Third-party Cookies to Block. If you want to be able to see everything that is being blocked you can select Prompt, but you may be overwhelmed by all the prompts to accept or deny the cookies.

Once you have the settings the way you want you can click the OK button on all the open windows.

The other threat to your privacy is DPI (Deep Packet Inspection). DPI although an excellent tool for protecting your computer from viruses, trojans, worms, and many more threats, it can also be used for internet mining, eavesdropping, and censorship. Wikipedia has some great information on DPI. The only thing you can do for now is talk to your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and see if there is an option to opt-out of the DPI. Unfortunately if your ISP does not have an opt-out option, there may not be anything you can do for now. There are debates going on all the time about “Net Neutrality” and the effect that DPI could have on it. Lobbyists are trying hard to get Congress to pass legislation making it mandatory that everyone have the option to opt-out of the DPI. Until that time comes, your privacy may not be as private as you think it is. So be careful and be safe!!!!