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"THE HUMAN SIDE OF TECHNOLOGY" for convenience, productivity, safety, profitability or fun. This is the place to be to keep your finger on the pulse in emerging technologies. When should you zig when everyone else zags? Where should you concentrate your time, money or effort to capitalize on the next technology tsunami? Stay tuned . . . -Published by SAVVY INTRAPRENEUR

Reminder: Beware Of Phishing Emails

Posted by Carl E. Reid, CSI Tuesday, November 15, 2016 0 comments

Clicking on ANY links in these types of emails can potentially cause irreparable damage to your computer or information stored on your computer network.

 Did I mention the part about possible identity theft can be accomplished from these types of emails too?

 Please familiarize yourself with the tonality, typos and poor grammar of the 3 sample phishing emails that provide clues below.

 This is a reminder to be Suspicious of emails telling you to . . . 

  • Appear in court
  • Update your account
  • You owe a debt and click on the attachment for details
  • Update your American Express / Credit card account

If you received a similar phishing (fishing) emails, please DELETE it immediately.  
Please call American Express directly to confirm "real" account issues.

 Sample #1 of Recent phishing email NOT from American Express
From: "American Express" <Americanexpress@securityserver.com>
To: YOU@YourEmailAddress.com
Sent: Saturday, August 23, 2014 8:15:52 AM
Subject: Unauthorized activity on your online account

 Dear Customer:

 Your account requires a complete profile update,

 We have recently detected that a different computer user has attempted gaining access to your online account, and multiple wrong passwords were attempted with your user ID.

 It is now necessary to re-confirm your account information to us. If this process is not completed within 24-48 hours,

 we will be forced to suspend your account online access as it may have been used for fraudulent purposes.

 Please update your profile immediately by downloading the attached file.

 American Express is dedicated to protecting your information.

 _____________________________________

 Phishing Sample #2 to appear in Court
From: "Court Agent" <reference047@washingtontruckaccidentlawyers.com>
To: YOU@YourEmailAddress.com
Sent: Friday, August 22, 2014 4:44:15 PM
Subject: Illegal software use

 As a defendant you have been scheduled to attend the hearing in the Court of Port St. Lucie.

 Hearing date: 21 September 2014
Hearing time: 11:00 a.m.
Hearing subject: illegal use of software

 Prior to the court thoroughly study the plaint note in the attachment to this mail.

 Sincerely,
Court agent,
Alison Smith
_________________________________

 Sample #3 from BOGUS Helpdesk
From: "HELP DESK" <markwel@zoominternet.net>
Sent: Tuesday, July 29, 2014 8:56:02 AM
Subject: IT

 Dear Email Account Users,

 We are upgrading Email over the next several weeks We urge all urge to participate in this upgrade. With the new upgrade, you'll see new features and enhancements included

 Submit your details for confirmation of account. HERE

 Thanks for your Co-operation.
IT SERVICE DESK

 Thank you for being a valued customer.

 Kind Regards,

 SafeGuards Team.

 (C) 2016 American Express Company. All rights reserved.

 All users of our online services subject to Privacy Statement and agree to be bound by Terms of Service. Please review.

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Passphrase Smarter Than Password

Posted by Carl E. Reid, CSI Tuesday, November 8, 2016 0 comments

With the Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook passwords leaks, I thought this might be a good tutorial to share with staff, to make your technology customer support team's job easier. Modify as you feel appropriate. 

 How To Smartly Create Passwords 

  • Don't re-use passwords. One ultra-secure one won't be any good if someone finds it.
  • While combining upper and lower case passwords with numbers to alter a memorable word - M4rsin$pace - is often advised, these are more easily cracked than you might think
  • The best strategy advice is to create a memorable, PASSPHRASE sentence [don't use these samples]:  I$wimatTHEbeach2016 | "I am a $erious Winner in 2017" is better than "My name is John", and use the first letter of each word with punctuation: "Iaa$Wi2017"
  • Consider using a password manager such as 1Password, which generates and stores your secure passwords.
_____________________________________
About the Author - click here to contact Carl

With corporate travels from the mail room to the board room, Carl E. Reid knows what it takes to be successful in the business arena. He has over 46 years of business experience, including 34 years as an information technology expert, 20 years as a business startup / career coach and 23 years as a successful entrepreneur. In addition to being founder of Savvy Intrapreneur, Carl has been a professional blogger and social media expert since 2004. In addition to being a sought after speaker, he publishes Library of Congress recognized blog www.SavvyIntrapreneur.com.  Carl has been published in "Network World" and "Computer Monthly" magazines, resulting in being a technology expert witness in court. 
Email: IGetSmart@SavvyIntrapreneur.comWeb: www.CarlEReid.com
Tel: 201-222-5390Twitter: @CarlEReid @Intrapreneur @iTechSpeak
Click here to view Carl's Amazon Author page

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