Hi all,
I was out for a few days on vacation (and will have a few more days out of the office this week too.) I just want to make sure you're up to date on the latest news in online safety and security so apologies for taking a briefer approach than usual in the interest of getting it all in.
- Twitter worm spreads by infecting user's profile pages. You can protect yourself by disabling browser features and practicing good security.
- This Wednesday's Good Morning America show will feature a 30 minute town hall on sexting with parents and teens dishing about this disturbing new trend. ("Sexting" is when kids send nude or semiclad images via email and cellphone cameras; sometimes also used to describe text messages of an intimate nature). Remember, while we're waiting for our laws to be adjusted to decriminalize teens who engage in this activity (an estimated 20% already have), there's an important parental role to be played. Talk to your kids about sexting and why it's dumb, dumb, and dumb.
- IRS spam on the increase. Just today I received an emailed scam letter that included attachments supposedly from the IRS. Remember, you won't ever receive email from the IRS about your taxes. They will contact you with US Postal Service. After all, they do know where you live! A Consumer Reports reporter blogs about his recent IRS id theft (it's not pretty).
- Scammers target would-be pedophiles, sending keystroke logging software disguised as images of minors. While it might be hard to feel sympathy for the victims, the FBI is going after the crooks.
- Conficker seems to have woken up. Just as I left the office last Wednesday, we were seeing signs of life in the worm expected to shake us all up on April 1st. As I had predicted, the virus writers delayed their activity (though whether it was the original plan or it was a response to media attention, we'll likely never know.) If you were protected from the previous versions of Conficker or Downadup as it is also known, the most recent update shouldn't cause you any further harm. Again, make sure your Windows' operating system is patched and you are running up-to-date security software.
Happy Holidays,
Marian Merritt