Mainland Office Supplies News
January 2010

   Mainland Office Supplies is here to keep you informed on the dangers that exist on the World Wide Web. As a Trend Micro Solution provider here is an important article on a new web threat.
   The biggest problem we encounter with PC computers these days is Malware. Malware causes problems such as slowing your computer to a crawl, redirecting your web browser to sites that you did not intend on going to, annoying pop up advertisements, etc. This article is a list of tips that we have compiled for our customers. Please keep in mind that as with anything involving the internet, this is not an absolute and complete list; all of these points are subject to change at the drop of a hat and new threats are released each and every day. We are providing this in hopes of making our clients more aware of malware and the techniques used to distribute this malicious software.
   One of our best pieces of advice that we can relay to you is “Don’t know, don’t go”. If you are unfamiliar with a website that you are asked to look at or are unfamiliar with the person or software that is sending you to a site then your best bet would be do not go to that site.
   Always apply your Windows updates in a timely manner. Do not depend on your computer to tell you when these updates are available. You can check these updates yourself by opening Internet Explorer, Click on the TOOLS menu and select Windows Update (If you are running Internet Explorer version 8, Select the Safety menu instead of Tools). You can always get to the Windows update site from this address: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.
   Always have current, purchased, security software such as Trend Micro’s home and corporate products. Free antivirus software does not provide frequent enough updates to their pattern files to search for current viruses. If the software downloads updates once per week, that is not frequent enough. We have removed viruses from computers that were detected by Trend Micro’s Antivirus Software for more than a month and a competitor’s software that was installed and paid for could not detect the virus with their current pattern file downloaded that day, so free is a product that you are getting what you are paying for.
   Open attachments from known or expected sources only. It is highly doubtful that your best friend from college is sending you links to purchase Cialis and Viagra cheaply over the internet. Do not open these emails, delete them immediately or send them to your junk/spam folder in Outlook so they can be added to your Outlook spam list.
   “I accidentally opened the spam email, how do they know I opened it?” Spammers use files called “Clear GIFs”. A GIF file is a picture file so a Clear GIF would be a picture that is clear, thus you would not be able to see this GIF in a HTML based email. Here is an excerpt from Skype’s Privacy policy with regards towards Clear GIFs:
“Skype web pages may include clear gifs. Clear gifs (also known as web-beacons) are tiny graphics with a unique identifier, which are used to count your visits to the page (but which do not retain any personally identifiable information). In addition, Skype uses clear gifs in our HTML-based emails to let us know which emails have been opened and acted upon. This allows us to gauge the effectiveness of certain communications and the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns.”
These Clear GIFs have a unique identifier that Skype can track to find which spam emailing people were more likely to open.
   Best practice for business computers is only visit websites that relate to your business. Facebook and Twitter can be a lot of fun but be aware, malicious software is written specifically to be distributed through social networking sites such as Facebook, Myspace, etc. One such instance involved clicking on a video link in Facebook that asks you if you want to install a program to view the video. If you click yes, it installs a malicious program and tells you that you have a virus and you need to buy something to get rid of it. It is really spyware. By clicking on the video link you are allowing this software to install on your computer, circumventing your antivirus or security software. You do not have to install software on your computer in order to view an imbedded flash video from a web page. This capability is built into your web browser.
   Peer-to-peer networking software such as Limewire, Bearshare, Aries, BitTorrent, eDonkey, Gnutella, eMule, Morpheus and the original Napster are havens for viruses and identity theft. This kind of software provides an open door to your computer. I recently watched a segment on a popular news program where a search for “tax returns” was performed on Limewire’s software and hundreds of tax return documents were indexed belonging to unsuspecting users for anyone on the Limewire network to copy. This is a prime target for identity theft. With this kind of unsecured file sharing, viruses are easily able to travel through out the peer-to-peer networks leaving your security software helpless to protect you.
   If you receive an email saying that your credit card was billed for a charge that you did not make, don’t click on the link to dispute the charge. This is a scam. This will install spyware software on your computer to record your keystrokes to send back to the spyware’s author to be used for identity theft. Pickup the telephone and call your bank or credit card and inquire about the charge.
   Be very careful of the web addresses that you type into your browser address field. Common misspellings of popular websites are registered to developers of malicious software (referred to as “typosquatting”) in order to infect your computer. When you are directed to these sites, software uses exploits in Internet Explorer to install Malware on your computer. Stay aware of the addresses that you type into your browser address field.
   As with anything in life, we must use our common sense. You don’t have to be a “computer expert” to spot a scam, all you really need is to be informed and use your common sense. If it sounds too good to be true, chances are it isn’t. There are no free lunches in this world and that goes doubly true for the internet. Someone is paying for those “free” services, be it the marketing companies paying for harvested emails addresses for bulk spam lists, or criminals paying for stolen credit card numbers but ultimately we are the ones paying with our slowed computers, redirected websites, full inboxes and the pop up advertisements that fill our screens.
Sincerely,
Wm. D. Broomell