Week of March 22, 2005
Last posting
Harry Potter scam
Paedophiles target kids blogs
Wily kid spies on teacher
Preying on human weakness
Spam artists are luring surfers to open spyware infested emails, and coaxing them to dodgy web sites with the promise of quick fortunes to be made - and "glamourous" (broadly defined) careers to be had.
Be wary of spam offering to make you the next star of Boogie Nights II. It may have stood Julianne Moore in good stead, but she is unlikely to have got where she is today by clicking on spamware. Get an agent if seeing stars.
General word to the wise
Cyber scamsters are getting better at dreaming up innovative ways to take our money. The only real advise to be given is: "watch your back". It's ugly out there. If you have a tendency to be the nice, trusting type- your days of solvency are numbered.
Read every e-mail you receive (at home and work) as if Bin Laden might have sent it. Study the 'subject' line for hints that it is not what it seems to be. Ask friends and colleagues not to send you email with oblique- 'could be from anyone' subject lines. Use a personal code where you can. Just don't click on every old thing that flashes past your eyeballs. And never open unknown attachments - if in any doubt - hit delete.
The worst that can happen is that if it was legitimate, it will be sent again.
If chastised for deleting an email from the CEO demanding your immediate attention- assume your most ethically conscious and innocent face and point to the acceptable use policy/email policy, and numerous threatening emails from IT (saying not to open attachments). Sob to HR about the inequity of the situation, etc.
Almost certainly it will be the CEO who has breached protocol by sending dodgy looking attachments to security conscious staff...
Call to Action
To all you frustrated, under appreciated security programmers and developers out there in your Dogbert infested pens, now is your chance to do something noble for mankind.
Send us your ideas for Tip of the Week and we will publish the best. It must be in language that your granny would understand and be able to follow. Assuming your granny is not an MIT graduate. |
 |
 |
We are trying to build a body of knowledge that helps the average user, as well as more sophisticated folk
who already have wads of techno babble infested sites to turn to.
We believe the average user gets little help from anyone, and we sorely need his or her co-operation to
secure cyberspace. The vendors try to communicate with them, but don’t seem to comprehend how truly
mystified the well- educated (non lunk headed) user really is. They make a lot of ill judged assumptions
about what people know, and as a result the message falls flat.
Bill Gates supposedly once said ‘ we don’t talk to end users’.
Needless to say, that far sighted strategic insight has long died a death and Microsoft are positively
falling over themselves to get down and dirty with the common man, or woman, as the case may be.
So keep it simple. An ABC of ‘what to do, how to do it, or what to look out for’ is particularly useful.
Remember- you may not be appreciated in your pen, but you can be in cyberspace.
|
