Ransomware Attacks Grow More Targeted & Dangerous
ARTICLE BY CALYPTIX SECURITYRansomware attacks used to have a broad scale. Think of the massive WannaCry attack that infected 200,000 machines in 150 countries over a handful of days in 2017. Today, ransomware is much more targeted – and losses from the...
Considerations When Buying a Business Laptop
When buying a new laptop or tablet for a specific business use case; there are a few questions that should be asked of an end-user before a machine is purchased. The first question or consideration is what we would call "machine class". As laptops are made in a...
Beware Fake Voicemail Message Emails
A interesting phony email made it past the spam filter today. This one portended to be a waiting voicemail message. As you can see in the image below, all one supposedly needs to do to listen to voicemail is to click on the included link. Of course this is not...
Anatomy of a “Phishing” Email
I received an interesting "phishing" e-mail today that at first glance appeared to be a notice from Wells Fargo. It only took a few seconds however to determine that it was not a legitimate email. If not already aware, so called "Phishing" emails are typically...
Beware of “Sextortion” Email Scams
What is a "Sextortion" Email Scam? "Sextortion" email scams are a form of "social engineering" designed to trick or entice a user into: clicking on a link, installing mal-ware, paying a ransom, or other behavior (that a victim would not typically engage in without...
Free DNS Security Protections for Home Use
Our computers and mobile devices find resources on the Internet using a naming system we call DNS (Domain Name System). DNS converts the names we humans use to browse the web (ex. www.AVAREN.com) and converts them to the IP addresses our computers use to communicate...
Using “Out of Band” Transmission Methods When Transmitting Account Logons to Coworkers or Family
Occasionally it can become necessary to transmit confidential information (such as account user-names and passwords) to co-workers or family members via electronic means. Because of concerns related to account hacking and ghosting (ghosting being where a hacker...
Malicious Emails Disguised as Shipping Notifications
Email scammers never seem to rest when looking for ways to bypass business spam filters. Sometimes their intent is to encrypt files while holding them for ransom ($$), other times their intent is to simply wreak havoc. Either way, computer users today must be adept at...
Beware Tricky Virus Links in Emails
No matter how great the spam filter a business employs, the occasional malicious email will still make it through to end users. A decent analogy might be that of a battle of tug-o-war between good and bad actors. The bad actors develop a new kind of spam intended to...
Another Fake Invoice Scam
The invoice below was sent in by a client for verification. Although it looks very much like like an invoice; if one reads the fine print it becomes clear that it is actually a solicitation for a website listing on a relatively obscure internet directory. The internet...
