A few key items to note as you read through the article – they give some good information about what you can do when you receive text spam:

1. Forward the offending message to 7726 (SPAM – alphanumerically) along with the phone number it was received from.
2. Report the spam to the FCC.  Yep – that’s a link to their page on Text Spam.
3. Ask your wireless carrier to block messages from the Internet.
4. Ask your wireless carrier to block the phone number the spam came from.

If I can add in my own 5th point, which should really be a first point – never respond to, answer or follow a link from a text message from an origin that you don’t recognize.  As with most things, a little common sense goes a long way in covering your rear-end and avoiding information theft and scams.

Text Spam might not be a huge problem now, but it can become one quickly.

Now maybe text spam isn’t affecting your life or your community as negatively as a mailbox full of credit card offers or the telemarketers that still call you despite your number being on a no-call list.  However, here in North America our wireless industry is still relatively immature compared to wireless services in most developed Asian countries.  As pointed out in the article, in China they have had unlimited texting plans for much longer than North American service providers have offered them, and right now a good one-third of all text messages received in China are of the spam or phishing variety.

I do find it humorous that the article states that the big two in America, Verizon and AT&T Wireless, claim they are doing all they can to stop spam, despite taking such actions actually has a negative revenue affect on their bottom lines.  The data being sent costs them little to nothing, where as people still on limited text plans (since the major carriers plans in themselves tend to be way more expensive than options in other countries) end up paying more because of spam received, and the technology required to adequately and accurately detect and remove spam texting would cost them quite a bit. 

Don’t expect your wireless carrier to have an effective solution to text spam any time soon, and as text message spam becomes increasingly easier to send the volume of spam will grow.  The best action for us is to take the steps listed above and start fighting it now instead of relying on the historically not proactive and only interested in profits wireless companies to combat it from their side.

How is Text Spam Affecting You? is a post from: @ Blog

Apple products have long touted that they are more secure. Times are changing...

It this report from thenexweb.com (link), the explore some of the recent security threats to Mac users, Safari users (the default web browser on Apple Mac O/S), what users should be aware of and how to remove the latest threat.

As in Windows platforms, many of these malware infections have the primary purpose of scaring users into handing over credit card information as well as tricking them in to potentially exposing other personal information.

We feel it is necessary to once again remind all users that if an application you don’t recognize shows up on your computer, take action immediately. Do not ever enter credit card information into an application or website unless you have initiated the transaction with a trusted vendor online.

This is only the beginning for Mac users. The long held belief is that Apple products are safer, more secure and don’t get viruses. However, a lot of that is due in part to their past lack of market saturation. Apple has started to cut into Microsoft’s heavy penetration into the desktop O/S market, and with that as their popularity in this market segment increases so will the number of threats specifically targeting Apple’s products.

Mac Users, Beware. is a post from: @ Blog

How do you make sure you're protected online?

Last week, Epsilon, a Dallas, Texas based company that handles mass-email marketing and communications for some of the world’s largest banks and corporations, sent out a notification and press release explaining that they had experienced a security breech into their customer database which exposed millions of personal records to a unauthorized entity.  Many of you may have already received notifications from the companies you work with on a daily basis explaining this issue. 

Although these companies send out very nice and calming notifications with verbiage such as:

“We have been informed by Epsilon Interactive, a vendor based in Dallas, Texas, that files containing your email address were accessed by unauthorized entry into their computer system. Epsilon helps us send you emails about products and services that may be of interest to you.

We want to assure you that (financial institution) has never provided Epsilon with financial information about you. For your security, however, we wanted to call this matter to your attention. We ask that you remain alert to any unusual or suspicious emails.” 

This was not a very finite event.  Although Epsilon is downplaying it stating it was only email addresses and names, and they only exposed 2% of all of their records, realize that Epsilon handles marketing information on a massive scale for companies such as: 

1800-Flowers
Best Buy
Capitol One
Chase
CitiBank
Hilton Honors
JP Morgan
Marriott Rewards
US Bank
Walgreens

And that is just a small sample of the dozens of their clients that were affected.

Or should I say, of their clients’ clients that are affected?  Ultimately this lands on each and every one of us that has done business with these companies and provided our names and email addresses in the course of doing business with them. 

What does this mean for you?

Obviously, first and foremost this means your security online has been compromised.  Perhaps not in a way that directly can lead to identity theft, but as an end result, it is a possibility.  Expect increased spam, phishing emails and virus attacks as a result of this.

At best you’ll get a letter acknowledging there was a problem – neither Epsilon nor their clients are offering any solutions or remediation and seem to be doing nothing more than analyzing the scope of the damage.  In essence, they are making this your problem to deal with as they work at fixing the security issue that caused the exposure.

Your security, as always, is your responsibility!

What should you do?

Epsilon and their clients can assure you all they want that nothing really important was stolen – just your name and email address – but for those that stole the information, you can bet their intentions are to get as much personal information as they can.

Act with extra caution when clicking links in emails or opening any emails from unrecognized sources.  If you receive and email from someone you know that looks suspicious but you’re not sure, pick up the phone and call them to verify what it is, or simply send an email to their address in return (not a reply!) asking them what it is and if they did indeed send it.

Be sure you are using a good quality desktop security software that offers aggressive spam and phishing filtering, web threat prevention and proactive internet security features – and make sure you keep it updated and the subscription active!  Our recommendation is Trend Micro Internet Security.  It is a lightweight but robust security platform that you can trust.

Change your passwords.  According to Epsilon passwords weren’t stolen, but do you really want to take the chance that they’re 100% accurate regarding that?  Besides, most of us use the same passwords for email, bank accounts, on-line shopping, etc. and our email address is almost always our login ID.  If the bad guys can get one of your passwords either through a phishing scam or Trojan download, it could expose much more than just your email address to them.

And as always, if you have questions call us.  We are indeed concerned about your security and are more than willing to answer your questions or inspect any suspicious emails you receive.  If you already suspect you may have a Trojan, spyware or other malware on your system, bring it in to us for our flat-rate PC Tune-Up service.  We’ll diagnose any issues your system may have and make security recommendations to keep you safe.

If you’re concerned about your network security or have multiple systems, schedule an on-site appointment with one of our technicians and we’ll come to you!

Remember, security is your responsibility – trust the professionals to make sure YOU are as secure as you need to be!

Security Alert is a post from: @ Blog