In the last 24hrs, I have spoken with or assisted at least 3 people who have become infected due to opening a malicious email.
One of them was my wifey, Pamela, who received an email from the US Postal Service stating that her package had been refused and to open the attached file for details. Due to her old Microsoft Windows Vista system which without question should be updated, the payload from the trojan was dropped and she was without her computer for 3 hours while over 300,000 items were scanned again and again and her icons restored so she could use her desktop.
What is happening is a bit of social engineering. The emails appear to come from someone you trust, in this case the Post Office, and they appear to have important information, just too good to pass up. A busy worker may be momentarily fooled, and likely, at the very moment they click on the item, they think, “Ohhh I bet I shouldn’t have done that”, but it is too late.
- How can you keep from becoming a victim of this type of exploit?
- Avoid using unpatched Microsoft Windows systems! When updates are released, install them.
- Install all updates to important applications, such as Microsoft Office.
- Install all updates to Adobe Reader, Flash, Acrobat, and to JAVA.
- Keep current and trustworthy anti-virus such as Trend Micro Titanium 2012 on all your computers.
- Use caution when opening attachments. Ask yourself why the USPS would be sending you and email and why would the information be in an attachment before clicking on it.
Before I get responses such as “Macs do not have that problem”, yes, Apple Mac OS X does have that problem. We have dealt with almost as many Mac security issues this year as we have Windows 7. Regardless of the Operating System, a little common sense and preventative maintenance goes a long way!
Should you need help with a virus cleanup or virus removal for your personal computer or your business, we can help. We also partner with Trend Micro to offer Worry-Free, Trend Micro Titanium, and the entire outstanding line of Trend Micro anti-virus, anti-spyware, anti-spam and anti-everything software, just give us a call at 864.990.4748 or email info@homelandsecureit.com.