EGUSD Information Security

So how many of you knew there was such a thing as Cyber Monday? An invention of the National Retail Federation, Cyber Monday is the Monday following Black Friday. Just as Black Friday features all kinds of sales and promotions in the stores, Cyber Monday features sales and promotions by online retailers. You can be [...]

A new phishing scam is showing up and being caught by the district’s spam filters.  Please be wary of these scams in your personal e-mail accounts.   The scam comes posing as a message ostensibly from the Social Security Administration: From: credentialj3@sermar.be [mailto:credentialj3@sermar.be]* Sent: Mon 11/23/2009 5:28 PM To: [Name Deleted] Subject: Watch for errors [...]

Well, it is that time of year again, the time when our thoughts turn to Christmas, when we give thanks for our blessings, when we look forward to spending time with loved ones – and the time when criminals roll out the latest versions of their scams to separate you from your money. To help [...]

Okay, I admit it. Microsoft’s reputation for security sucks.  Whether it is caused by rushing their products to market, poor programing practices or because Microsoft’s dominant position in the market make it the primary target of malware authors, Windows has been full of holes.  Of course, it has come a long way from Windows 98, which had [...]

While Mac users may not be as susceptible to infections of malware such as viruses or Trojans, they are just as likely to be a victim of cyber crime as Windows users, according to a survey commissioned by security firm ESET. This is because the most common cause of cybercrime losses are due to “phishing” [...]

Trying to select a single security product to meet all of your needs generally doesn’t work well for the home user.  Today we will take a look at the various security  features needed, and take a look at some free or low-cost options to meet those needs. Yesterday’s post dealt with some behavioral changes you [...]

I have had a couple of people ask if I could send out regular e-mails about any new posts on the blog.  That way they could just review the summary and decide if they were interested, without needing to go to the blog each day to check for updates. While I suppose I could do that, [...]

Here is another e-mail forwarded to me from a district employee, a variation of the Nigerian scam:

One of our district employees forwarded to me an e-mail they received that purported to be from the GMail tech support team:

Locking the doors and windows does little good if you allow the open the door without knowing who is coming in. To continue a bit with the home security metaphor from yesterday, the best locks in the world cannot protect your belongings if you invite the thief into your home. For that reason, most of [...]