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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...