The quota limit for your email is nearly full

Bogus Microsoft 365 quota full email
Bogus Microsoft 365 quota full email

The quota limit for your email box is NOT nearly full

Have you received an email that stated “The quota limit for is nearly full.”?

Guess what? It’s probably NOT a legitimate email notification. Let’s examine it…

The from address could be something like the example below:
“M/S/Yourdomain <joe.yun@pitt.edu>

There’s several things wrong here. That’s not your Microsoft 365 tenant, is it?

But what about that email address? That’s not a Microsoft domain. Not even close!

Then there’s the link. Hover your mouse over it and look at the URL. Notice that it has nothing to do with Microsoft at all? DO NOT CLICK IT.

If you get these types of emails, you can safely ignore them.

If you are being inundated with them, there are options available to your business that can help.

Reach out to me via our CONTACT FORM if you would like more information.

We provide managed services and computer, network and server sales, support and consultation in the Upstate and Greenville SC area for small and medium businesses.

Microsoft Password Expiration Notice is BOGUS

Expired Password Phishing Attempt

Let’s go over this one more time…. You *NEED* to stop clicking on links in your email.

Yes, they look enticing, and some sure look official, but, many are designed causing you to click on a link then prompt you for your login credentials or other information, which is then used to gain access to your accounts.

Case in point:

This email claims to be from Microsoft, explaining that your password is due to expire on the day you received it.

If you hover your mouse over the “KEEP PASSWORD” link, you will be presented with the URL it would take you to if you clicked it. That is *NOT* a Microsoft site. DO NOT CLICK IT.

If you have questions about these emails, reach out to your IT service tech or a reputable computer service provider.

If you do not have one and you are in the Upstate South Carolina area, then feel free to reach out to us at Homeland Secure IT by using our CONTACT PAGE. We provide computer and network service, sales and consultation to small and medium sized businesses in Greenville, Spartanburg, Anderson, Simpsonville and surrounding areas.

Be safe out there!

It’s 2023 – Stop falling for fake Microsoft emails!

Example email “Secured Data sent from your@account SharePoint portal”

It’s 2023 and we’re still seeing clients fall for this type of scam email designed to have you click that “View Secured Document” link. There’s several giveaways from the fact that “SharedPoint” is NOT “SharePoint”, to the origin email which is from Japan instead of a Microsoft domain.
Another big clue is when you hover over the “View Secured Document” link, you will notice that it is also not an official Microsoft site:

“View Secured Document” link does not point to official Microsoft site

If you have questions regarding your business security, please reach out to us via our CONTACT FORM or call 864-990-4748×201.

We provide computer, server and network sales, service and support to Upstate South Carolina small and medium businesses. Cities like Greenville, Simpsonville, Anderson, Easley, are our preferred areas due to response time, however, we also offer managed and remote services nationwide at competitive pricing.

Computer Repair Service in Greenville SC

We get several calls a week wanting computer repair service in Greenville or the Upstate and have to tell them we cannot help them.

Why? Because after years of operation, Homeland Secure IT determined it was necessary to focus on our business clients in order to provide them with the highest level or service and the fastest possible response times.

We miss working with our home users, and we understand that great local computer businesses like CDO / Computer Direct Outlet are no longer providing sales and repairs for these end users. We refer home users to a couple providers when we can.

There’s one exception to our “no home computer” rule – we do provide some limited services to the owners of the businesses and non-profits that we serve. It makes sense because their home computers are an extension of their business office.

If you are in need of computer or server sales, service or consultation, we would love to talk with you! Also, if you need assistance with your home computer and happen to own a business that we could offer our services to, then we should talk about that too!

Fake o365 password emails still happening

Not a day goes by that one of the customers that Homeland Secure IT provides computer services to doesn’t call or email asking about the legitimacy of an email they received that is informing them of some action they need to take.

Typical emails might be telling them:

Your o365 password is expiring
You have mail that has been quarantined
An error has occurred and your mail cannot be delivered
You have pending messages that have not been sent
Your account has been suspended

And they are prompted to take action, such as following a link to keep the same password, or to reactivate their email account.

Here’s an example email that I received:

Bogus fake Microsoft O365 password expiration notification

At first glance, this email would look legit to someone not paying attention. The subject (not shown) is:
Access Log-in Due Friday, July 29, 2022

That alone sounds time critical, as that is today!

It’s saying the password has expired, but I can click that big red button and KEEP SAME ACCESS.

But hold on a minute, something is wrong. Look at that FROM address. That is *NOT* a Microsoft address. And if you hover your mouse over the “KEEP SAME ACCESS” link / button, you will see the URL it is sending you to, which is also not associated with Microsoft.

If you receive this type of email and are confused, please reach out to an IT specialist.

If you are in the Greenville, Simpsonville, Easley, Anderson, Mauldin area and need a business computer consultant or service provider, Homeland Secure IT would love to talk to you. We offer answers to your questions, and resolutions to your issues for anything your small or medium business may need that is computer, server or network related!

We offer backup solutions, patch and update management, remote and on-site support and repair, as well as sales of new computers, servers and network components.

You can contact us by calling 864-990-4748 x201 or using our CONTACT FORM.

Be safe out there!

Your password is not expiring

No, your password is not expiring. You are being sent email that is attempting to get you to enter your credentials or send you to a malicious website.

Please stop believing everything you read when you get these emails.

Look at the links before clicking them – you can hover your mouse over the link and see where it is sending you. This one is supposedly from “Office”. But it’s not. Notice the from address has NOTHING to do with Microsoft or o365. Nor does the link, which is going to a server in Turkey, and not related to Microsoft or o365.

If you are unsure, seek professional advice.

If you do not have a company that provides IT for your Greenville or Upstate SC business, you can call us at 864.990.4748 or user our contact form. We are always happy to help.

Be safe out there!

Computer Repair Services In Greenville

Homeland Secure IT computer service LogoWhat do you do if you need computer repair in the Upstate? What has become of the computer repair businesses in Greenville and the surrounding area?

Computer Direct Outlet is apparently gone and sorely missed by many. Four other prominent computer businesses are now closed. Some are a result of the pandemic, and one is due to the owner retiring.

Homeland Secure IT is no longer doing HOME computer repair services, we opted to focus on small and medium business computers, servers and networks – sales, service and consultation. In fact, we are busier than ever working with our client base, but we still get calls about residential services weekly.

One thing we have been doing is to offer our managed services (remote services) to home users. While it’s not the same as having a service tech go to home, in 90 percent of the cases, it will allow us to keep your computer up to date with patches and updates, monitor it for signs of failure and to connect to you to fix MOST issues that require touching the machine!

We also offer Trend Micro anti-virus, cloud backup services, Microsoft o365 and more to home users who are looking for an enhanced user experience and an additional layer of protection.

That leaves the hardware – since we closed our store front, we don’t have walk-ins. If we don’t do house calls, where does that leave you? We sell computers and offer extended warranties from the original manufacturers that feature in-home service!

If that sounds like something of interest to you, then we should talk.

If you DO need someone to come to your home, we can possibly recommend someone to do so.

Reach out to us and maybe we can help you out – we hate that the Upstate has lost some of the most well established and respected computer repair businesses that dealt with home users!

-John

864-990-4748 x 201 or use our CONTACT FORM

Microsoft probably didn’t send that PW Expiration Notice

If you receive an email that tells you that your Microsoft Password is expiring, look at it closely and you will notice a lot of dead giveaways that it is fake.

First off, the subject might be misspelled like this one… “Acount important Update 09/11”. That should be the first red flag that something is not right.

But wait, there’s more – if you examine the from address, if it is NOT from Microsoft.com then you probably want to ignore it – “noreply@smartwaiver.com” has nothing to do with Microsoft in this case.

And if you hover over the “Keep My Password”, you will notice THAT is a bogus URL as well, not related to Microsoft.

Should you decide to click anyway, you may be taken to a malicious site. One that asks you to fill in your credentials to authenticate – doing so just gives the bad guys your login information and they can become you.

If you are running the latest updates to Chrome, you will get a notification in many cases that the site is malicious. Please heed that warning!

Remember, to keep yourself up to date, you should start with running a currently supported operating system, such as Windows 10, or even 11, or the latest releases of Apple Mac OS, or Linux. Running older versions means you may not get the latest updates.

You should insure all current updates are applied to your computers/servers for the OS and 3rd party software.

You NEED to run adequate anti-virus. We sell and support Trend Micro Business products such as Worry-Free Business Security and Services.

Backups are essential to recovering in the event you are exploited. Make sure you have proper backups made.
We recommend Servosity and offer that to our clients.

Finally – exercise caution when following links. A little common sense goes a long way.

Remember – it’s not paranoia if they really ARE out to get you!

We are happy to consult with your small or medium business for your firewall, anti-virus, patch management, backup and other security needs. Just use our contact form, or call us at 864-990-4748 ext 201

Be safe out there!

Happy Independence Day

Ka-Boom!

We’re taking off Friday the 2nd through Tuesday the 6th to celebrate our Nation’s Independence and spend time with our families. We hope you will be able to do the same!

We will be on-call if you should have an emergency, so do not hesitate to call if you cannot get a computer or server to function and need to do payroll. We’ll return your call as quickly as possible, but we may have our mouths full of ribs, or might even be consuming an adult beverage.

God bless this amazing country and you!

—
For more information about Greenville, Upstate SC based computer, server and network sales, service and consultation – 864-990-4748 or use our CONTACT FORM

Back it on up! Something free for you!

Our cloud backup and disaster recovery partner, Servosity, has offered us something that may help your company during these uncertain times…

Now through August, we can provide you with Office 365 / O365 backup AND endpoint backup (your workstations, notebooks, etc) at NO CHARGE.

If you would like more information, please use our CONTACT FORM or give us a call at 864-990-4748 x201.