"I have been no more than a medium, as it were."Henri Matisse
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VoIP Phone - The Pros And Cons
You've heard of the latest technological miracle and you're thinking of having a VoIP phone at your disposal. Great... but do you actually know what it is or are you just going with the flow? Either way, this article aims to help you with all the FAQs ...
Vote "No Confidence" In SSL
You may reprint or publish this article free of charge as long as the bylines are included.Original URL (The Web version of the article)---------------------------------------href="http://www.defendingthenet.com/NewsLetters/Vote Vote "No Confidence" In ...
Cleaning Your Computer
Cleaning viruses off your computer system can be an easy process if you have the right tool. There are many fee and free programs that you can use to do this, ones that you may not even know are available to you. Many of these programs are set up so that ...
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Scams involving email continue to plague consumers across America, indeed the world. These so called "phishing" scams involve "spoofed" emails meant to draw the unwary to bogus internet sites masquerading as legitimate sites. These scam artists -- phishers -- attempt to hook visitors in by having them divulge certain critical and personal bits of information. Once the information has been divulged the phishers start their dirty work and you have been conned. Several phishing scams continue to persist, the following are three of the most pervasive ones.
1. Financial Institutions. It is highly likely that you have already received this type of notice which appears to have come from your financial institution. It goes something like this:We are glad to inform you, that our bank has a new security system. The new updated technology will ensure the security of your payments through our bank. Hoping you understand that we are doing this for your own safety, we suggest you to update your account , this update will maintain the safety of your account. All you have to do is complete our online secured form. Thank you .
Comment: No financial institution will require you to respond to an email asking you to update your account. In addition, I left in the typos, punctuation errors, and overall poorly worded request just as it is. Finally, many of these scams do not go to account holders as the phishers spam email accounts in the hope that someone will take the bait.
2. Paypal Account. This scam is giving Paypal/eBay fits as its says that billing information must be updated by you, the recipient of the notice. Verbiage is included whereby "Paypal" threatens to close your account if you do not respond, money will be withheld, etc.
Comment: The first time I saw this note, I thought: huh?! The nerve of Paypal! However, I forwarded the letter to Paypal who confirmed its scammy nature.
3. ISP Fraud. An internet service provider has seen a number of "their" letters surface in emails around the US. A common request goes something like this: Dear Comcast customer,
We recently attempted to charge your account but we seem to receive an error when charging your card. This sometimes occurs for a variety of reasons including card expiration, over limit, suspicion of fraud, or several other technical difficulties. Please visit the Comcast Service Center, by clicking on the hyperlink shown below, and update your information so this issue can be resolved.
Comcast Service Center
Thank you,
Chris Hammonds
Comcast Service Department
Comment: Another request to obtain valuable information belonging to you. I have seen 3-4 variations of this letter, all allegedly from Comcast.
Oftentimes, phishers will go to great lengths to copy the company's logo and other pertinent information and include that within the email. Almost without fail they provide a link for you to click on so that you will go to a site thinking that it is legitimate.
Once at the scam site, all kinds of questions will be asked of you including: social security number, credit card information, your address, and more. The more information you give, the easier it will be for you to become a victim of identity theft as the perpetrators assume your identity and open up multiple accounts in your name.
Usually the consumer knows nothing of the scam until they receive letters demanding payment for accounts opened up in their name, calls from creditors, and rejected credit applications because of assumed bad credit.
The best defense, of course, is to not respond to the email. However, you can play an important part in stopping phishing fraud by forwarding a copy of the message to the company being mimicked. Their fraud department will be grateful and you will help them [as well as policing authorities] in their quest to stop phishers in their tracks.
About the Author Matt Keegan is The Article Writer covering topics as from Aviation to Zoos.
Written By: Matthew C. Keegan
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 Inaction on disconnect pleas at root of Aussie ISP lawsuit (Ars Technica)
Major movie studios aren't happy that Australian ISP iiNet won't disconnect users after receiving evidence that they have been sharing movies over BitTorrent. iiNet doesn't want to play traffic cop, but Australian law does demand it have (and act on) a disconnection policy for copyright infringers. Read More...
Aussie ISP sued for allowing piracy (The Inquirer)
IN A BIZARRE MOVE , the Australian movie and TV business has decided to sue the country's biggest ISP for software piracy.
Microsoft is 5th most spam-friendly ISP (ZDNet)
Spammers are abusing Microsoft's online services at such an alarming rate that a non-profit spam fighting group now lists Microsoft as the world's 5th most spam-friendly ISP (Internet Service Provider). The latest update of Spamhaus.org's list of the world's worst spam networks shows Microsoft at #5 because of 26 "current known spam issues" surrounding Nigerian (419) advance-free fraud e-mails ...
Studios Sue Oz ISP Over Allowing Piracy (Slashdot)
Da Massive writes "Leading Hollywood film studios Village Roadshow, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros Entertainment, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Disney Enterprises are suing Australia's second largest ISP, iiNet, saying it's complicit in the infringement of their copyrighted material. According to a statement of claim, 'the ISP knows ...
ISP conducting "Stay Alive on the I's" (Benton Evening News)
As the Thanksgiving holiday nears, the officers from Illinois State Police District 13 hope that travelers will keep their minds on their driving and not on the turkey and the trimmings. This holds especially true for buckling up, regardless of whether someone is driving across town or across the state. During the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday weekend, ISP District 13 troopers will ...
Spamhaus: Microsoft Now 5th Most Spam Friendly ISP (Washington Post)
Microsoft is rising quickly on a running list of the Top 10 Worst Spam Service ISPs as maintained by spamhaus.org, a group that tracks unsolicited commercial e-mail. The software giant debuted on the list earlier this month at number 9 (one being the worst), and has slid over the past few days down to number 5. Spamhaus says spammers and scam artists are abusing Microsoft's live.com and ...
What does the spam ISP shutdown really mean? (ZDNet)
It has been over a week since the takedown of an ISP responsible for directing a large portion of Internet's spam. While many groups immediately hailed a massive drop in spam, the true story was more nuanced. Everyone, save the spammers, hates spam, and this story has generated quite a bit of interest throughout the media as a result. There are two misconceptions that do need to be clarified. ...
IDOT and ISP announce winter preparations and urge drivers to stress safety message: â€Ice and Snow — Take it Slow†(Bureau County Republican)
SPRINGFIELD — Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Milton R. Sees at a news conference Nov. 10 urged motorists to start preparing themselves and their vehicles for winter driving conditions. IDOT crews and Illinois State Police are making final preparations to get the state’s frontline winter teams and equipment ready for emergency operations for the upcoming snow and ice season.
Studios sue Australian ISP over video piracy (CNET)
Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft, backed by all the major networks, says iiNet has ignored requests to discipline its customers for infringing on film copyrights.
500,000 'bot' PCs rescued as 'Spam' ISP taken offline (PC Advisor)
Crippled McColo accused of hosting global botnets A huge botnet consisting of 500,000 compromised PCs was crippled when US-based 'spam ISP' McColo was taken offline last week, according to Joe Stewart, director of malware research at SecureWorks.
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