PC Security Tips — common tricks

PC World’s latest article “How to protect your PC against devious security traps” provides a useful summary of malicious attacks: Phishing Bogus email Fake warnings Out-of-date app exploits Zero-day attacks Port sniffing

Fake Shipping Notifications — an annual email scam

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Fake shipping notifications — email messages purporting to be from mainstream shippers (FedEx, UPS, etc.) saying that delivery of a parcel / package was attempted — directing you to open an attachment or click on a link. As pointed out in last year’s post “Holiday Cyber Risks” (December… Continue reading Fake Shipping Notifications — an annual email scam

Fake Gift Card Surveys — another email scam

Fake gift card surveys. I’ve seen more of these scams the last month or two. The email messages claimed to be from Amazon with “Amazon Coupons” as the subject. Examination of the messages revealed sender addresses having nothing to do with Amazon. Like from amazon@someothersite.com. Encoded (indecipherable) links in the bodies of the messages went… Continue reading Fake Gift Card Surveys — another email scam

Fake order confirmations — another email scam

Fake order confirmations. I’ve seen a lot of these the last couple of weeks. Particularly repeated email messages claiming to be from Costco (Walgreens, etc.) with “Order Confirmation” as the subject. Of course, I never placed any such order(s). Examination of the messages (without actually opening them in an email app) revealed various sender addresses… Continue reading Fake order confirmations — another email scam