The article lists the first step as Recognition of the problem; the second step as Action (and apology).  Click on the link above and spend a couple of minutes with the article.

We call it rogue-ware because it is software that pretends to be anti-virus or anti-malware software, but is actually a bad program itself.  It looks very authentic, but is actually an example of the problem.

Here’s a bit of good news.  The FBI and Department of Justice have cracked an international ring behind one of these infections. 22-year-old Peteris Sahurovs and 23-year-old Marina Maslobojeva were arrested in Latvia on charges made in court in Minnesota. They created a malware infection that is estimated to have infected almost a million computers and netted them about $72 million.   People ask me why people create virus and malware software, and the answer is, these days, “They do it for the money.” It certainly was for the money in this case.

You can read an article about the case at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/23/fbi_scareware_arrests/

The short answer of how it worked is this: they bought banner ads to be placed on respected websites.  Then they changed the content of the banner ad to be the malware-installer.  When people saw the ad in their browser, they could get infected if their anti-virus protection software was not successful at stopping the installation.

Its good that these guys are arrested; but the problem isn’t going away just because these guys are out of commission for a while. There’s lots of others that are behind other infections.  News that they made $72 million is sure to inspire others, as well.

It can be very difficult to tell these fake warnings from real warnings, because the authors typically do a very good job of emulating the look and feel of real programs.  It remains important to have a good AV program installed and to keep it up-to-date.

If you have recently invested in a new laptop or tower computer, you may be looking for a way to offload your old one. Be sure to clean off your personal information or you may be handing out your company or personal information to thieves.

Startling facts about e-waste.

Consumer Reports reveals that 3 in 10 consumers replaced their computer in 2007. Nearly 2 in 10 consumers that disposed of a desktop computer or monitor threw them in the trash. According to the New York Times, approximately 1.8 million tons of discarded computers, printers, cell phones and other electronics wound up in landfills in 2007. That is a lot of e-waste!

So, if you have unwanted electronics or e-waste, please consider donating it to a good cause, selling it to someone who can reuse it, or recycle your e-waste.

Donate, sell or recycle your old computer, but keep your data and identity safe.
Deleting files and information just isn’t enough these days. Your computer holds on to deleted data so it can be recovered if necessary. So, how can you be sure your information is properly removed from your computer before you get rid of it? Use a program that is designed to overwrite the hard drive on your computer to wipe it clean.

Removing the files yourself using disk-cleaning software is not too difficult. Many free cleaning utilities are available to download online for free such as Active Kill Disk, Disk Cleaner, or even Sure Delete. If this is just too much work, you can always send your used computer or other devices to a refurbishing company that will wipe the devices clean and donate them to a worthy cause for you.

Beware… printers can also hold critical data that criminals love!  Did you know that many printers save data on a hard drive, and that data can be reused when plugged into a computer? Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter if the printer even works. The hard drive may be unharmed and useful in the hands of a criminal. Just like a computer, your printer can be used for identity theft. There are software programs that can overwrite the data if you feel strongly about donating or selling your printer. However, destroying the hard drive is the only 100% guaranteed way of keeping your data safe.

Prepare your cell phone before handing it off…  If you are selling, donating or recycling your cell phone, don’t forget to delete your personal and company data first. A cellular device is much like a printer it holds traces of the information so it can be restored if necessary even if the phone is broken.

If you are planning to upgrade to a new phone or just have an old one taking up space in your desk drawer, see your cell phone manual or wireless provider’s website for details regarding permanent information deletion. Don’t forget to remove your SIM and memory cards too before donating a cellular device.

Ready to donate? Determine if your device can be reused.  A good rule of thumb to follow is, if you have a computer or device that is less than five years old it can usually be repurposed. The chances are very good that a non-profit or charitable agency could reuse your unwanted electronics to train individuals who are new users or even use your device within the organization.

Tips for donating unwanted electronics to a good cause.  Donating your devices to a local charity or a community group can have a great impact on others. Be sure to call the group you have in mind first to be sure they have a need for the equipment you intend to donate.

If you cannot find a local organization, try searching for an agency that fits your interests online. Remember to check the agency’s policy regarding data on the devices to ensure proper handling of your critical information. Here are a few safe non-profit organizations to consider:

Christina
Accepts computer donations to reuse the technology to support training and greater independence for disabled individuals and other people in need.

PC For Schools
A non-profit organization that refurbishes donated Pentium PC’s and late model Macintoshes, then distributes them to needy schools.

World Computer Exchange
A global education and environmental non-profit that helps connect youth in 67 developing countries to the skills, opportunities, and understanding of the Internet while keeping working computers out of landfills.

Selling unwanted electronics can be a win-win too!  Not only can you clear out devices that have been cluttering your home or workspace, but you can make a few bucks in the process. A great way to sell unwanted electronics is to include them in a garage sale or post them on your favorite classifieds website like CraigsList.org or ClassifiedAds.com.

If you have a little extra money to invest, look into upgrading your device before putting it up for sale. You may be pleasantly surprised at how quickly your devices will sell with current software or programs and how much more you can earn with such a minimal investment.

Recycling locations in your area are easy to find!  Now you can find e-waste recycling locations quickly with Earth911.com. This website holds information for over 117,000 locations and programs for more than 240 materials, and that is just the beginning of their service. Earth911 is also geared toward education, teaching visitors why they should recycle, on top of how and where. If you’re short on time, call for information and locations near you:

Earth911  •  1-800-CLEANUP

Or visit Earth911.com and download their FREE iRecycle application for your iPhone and start recycling today!

Recycling improves the health of our planet.  So, let’s work together to keep our planet green! It is up to us to reduce the amount of waste piling up in our landfills. Take a look at the Recycling 101 section on Earth 911.com today to learn more. You will be amazed at how many items can be recycled. You just have to learn how and where. Go GREEN!

Read the complete story at:
http://lastwatchdog.com/unstoppable-phishing-attacks-blanket-facebook-twitter/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/8297237.stm

The gist is this – Iceland has more electricity than it can use, and its produced from geothermal, so there’s no carbon produced by making it.  Plus, the cool temperatures can help keep all those servers cool with no air-conditioning costs.  Iceland is busy laying fibre optic cables to North America and Europe so they can house big server farms and bring those jobs to the island.  Seems like a good idea to us!

First, what is a business blog? It’s a type of web site. It presents writing, pictures, videos, links to other websites, and eMail accounts in a conversational approach.  The true power of a business blog is actually in the software running your website…

We’ve all driven down Highway 1 or 101 and seen the billboards.  Those billboards work just like many current websites.  They are static marketing elements you must pass by in order to see.

On the internet, we all use search engine to find things we are interested.  Pew Internet & American Research Project concludes 82% of American Adult Internet Users go to search engines to find information on products or services.  The search engines, wanting to keep searchers, scourer the internet looking for information to present (i.e. index).

Going back to our billboard analogy, the search engines must drive by your billboard (i.e. visit your website) on a regular basis and “read it” to know of any changes.  The true power of the business blog site resides in the technology that “notifies” the search engines of changes to your website.

Changing your website over to WordPress, like I recently did for Computer Studios,  is inexpensive. In the long run, will help your business gain more consumers of your knowledge.  Expanding your perceived level of expertise is the primary effort of business blogging.

Happy Blogging

Ed Bejarana
Computer Studios

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their infamous sketch,

“Who’s on first?” might have turned out something like this:

COSTELLO CALLS TO BUY A COMPUTER FROM ABBOTT

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: Thanks. I’m setting up an office in my den and I’m thinking about buying a computer.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: No, the name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: Your computer?

COSTELLO: I don’t own a computer. I want to buy one.

ABBOTT: Mac?

COSTELLO: I told you, my name’s Lou.

ABBOTT: What about Windows?

COSTELLO: Why? Will it get stuffy in here?

ABBOTT: Do you want a computer with Windows?

COSTELLO: I don’t know. What will I see when I look at the windows?

ABBOTT: Wallpaper.

COSTELLO: Never mind the windows. I need a computer and software.

ABBOTT: Software for Windows?

COSTELLO: No. On the computer! I need something I can use to write proposals, track expenses and run my business. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yeah, for my office. Can you recommend anything?

ABBOTT: I just did.

COSTELLO: You just did what?

ABBOTT: Recommend something.

COSTELLO: You recommended something?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: For my office?

ABBOTT: Yes.

COSTELLO: OK, what did you recommend for my office?

ABBOTT: Office.

COSTELLO: Yes, for my office!

ABBOTT: I recommend Office with Windows.

COSTELLO: I already have an office with windows! OK, let’s just say I’m sitting at my computer and I want to type a proposal. What do I need?

ABBOTT: Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: Word in Office.

COSTELLO: The only word in office is office.

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: Which word in office for windows?

ABBOTT: The Word you get when you click the blue “W”.

COSTELLO: I’m going to click your blue “W” if you don’t start with some straight answers. OK, forget that. Can I watch movies on the Internet?

ABBOTT: Yes, you want Real One.

COSTELLO: Maybe a real one, maybe a cartoon. What I watch is none of your business. Just tell me what I need!

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: If it’s a long movie, I also want to watch reels 2, 3 and 4. Can I watch them?

ABBOTT: Of course.

COSTELLO: Great! With what?

ABBOTT: Real One.

COSTELLO: OK, I’m at my computer and I want to watch a movie. What do I do?

ABBOTT: You click the blue “1″.

COSTELLO: I click the blue one what?

ABBOTT: The blue “1″.

COSTELLO: Is that different from the blue “W”?

ABBOTT: The blue “1″ is Real One and the blue “W” is Word.

COSTELLO: What word?

ABBOTT: The Word in Office for Windows.

COSTELLO: But there are three words in “office for windows”!

ABBOTT: No, just one. But it’s the most popular Word in the world.

COSTELLO: It is?

ABBOTT: Yes, but to be fair, there aren’t many other Words left. It pretty much wiped out all the other Words out there.

COSTELLO: And that word is real one?

ABBOTT: Real One has nothing to do with Word. Real One isn’t even part of Office.

COSTELLO: STOP! Don’t start that again. What about financial bookkeeping? You have anything I can track my money with?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: That’s right. What do you have?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: I need money to track my money?

ABBOTT: It comes bundled with your computer.

COSTELLO: What’s bundled with my computer?

ABBOTT: Money.

COSTELLO: Money comes with my computer?

ABBOTT: Yes. No extra charge.

COSTELLO: I get a bundle of money with my computer? How much?

ABBOTT: One copy.

COSTELLO: Isn’t it illegal to copy money?

ABBOTT: Microsoft gave us a license to copy Money.

COSTELLO: They can give you a license to copy money?

ABBOTT: Why not? THEY OWN IT!

(A few days later)

ABBOTT: Super Duper computer store. Can I help you?

COSTELLO: How do I turn my computer off?

ABBOTT: Click on “START

The Robot Arm of the Law Grows Longer
by Noel Sharkey

The longer version:

Without turning this too much into a lesson on networking, here’s how it works.  Computers and web browsers don’t work on names, even though it looks that way. They work with IP addresses, and here in the US, most are still a set of four number separated by periods. Example: 63.249.122.76 is an IP address. It’s the IP address of this web page.

When you type in a name of a web page, your computer begins a process of asking “what does that name mean?” and getting an answer in the form of the four numbers.  When you typed in the www.computer-studios.com address of this page, or clicked on a link that brought you here, your computer asked another computer,  called a DNS Server, for the numbers that are the IP address of this web page – 63.249.122.76.  The name of that computer it asked is a DNS name server.  Every Internet Service Provider (ISP), like PacificBell/SBC/AT&T, Cruzio, or got.net has to provide one or more DNS server. The process of converting a name, like  http://www.computer-studios.com into the number 63.249.122.76 is called DNS resolution, and it goes on all the time when you’re browsing the Internet on your computer.

The bad guys want control of your computer. Why? Because they can make money using it as their own.  Not a lot for one PC, but they’re after control of thousands.  They are hiring smarter and smarter computer guys to accomplish this goal. Consequently, the techniques they’re using to try to get control of your computer(s) are more advanced than ever. They can make money by renting out the use of your computer to other people, who can use it to do evil in the world.

One of the ways they figured out how to do this is to get your ISP’s DNS servers to provide you with wrong information.  Instead of handing your computer back the accurate, true address of a web page you’ve just requested, they have figured out how to get that DNS server to give you the address of a web server they control! That web server  publishes a web page that looks like the real one (or maybe not – you might not know what the page is supposed to look like).  Big difference, though. The fake web page has content in it that will install bad, unwanted programs into your PC.  All you had to do was view the page. (As I said, the bad guys have hired better and better talent.)

So, how does OpenDNS fix this problem? You (or we) configure your PC or network of PCs to get the DNS resolution from the secure DNS name servers at OpenDNS.  There are two DNS name server addresses -  208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220.  There is no software to install. There’s an excellent set of instructions at the OpenDNS site that will show step-by-step what to do to make this change. You can change back at any time.  The service, at our level, is free. They sell it to larger companies.

Once you’ve made these changes, how does it work?  You browse the way you always have, using the browser of your choice.  When you open a web site, your computer asks the OpenDNS servers for those 4-digit IP addresses.  Here’s the difference – they’ve kept track of sites that have recently been compromised. If you request one, you’ll get a page from OpenDNS that tells you this, instead of the infected or compromised page. The page they provide has a bit of advertising on it.  That is how the service can be “free.”  And because you don’t actually visit the web page that has the garbage in it, your PC doesn’t get infected.

To make a metaphor, it’s like being in the airport, ready to get on a plane. As you walk up to the ticket counter to check in, an assistant at the counter sees you’re wearing the secret decoder ring that identifies you as a member of the club and says – “Don’t get on this plane. That guy there in the argyle sweater? He’s coming down with the flu and is super contagious right now.  You don’t even want to be on the same plane with him.”   And presto – you take the advice, get on a different plane and don’t get the flu.

If you go a step further, and sign up for a free account, and register your computer or your network with them, then you can get reports that will tell you exactly which web sites were avoided.  I did this. I’m also not getting as many advertisements and banner ads as a result.   You can also configure your DNS account to avoid certain types of web pages, including pornography, nudity, hate-sites, and so on.  This can be very handy for home networks.  You set up the account, and configure the Internet router to give out these DNS entries, and suddenly all the PCs on your network don’t pull up the websites with the stuff you don’t want the kids to see.  And it was free.  Oh, yeah. You can look at the report and see the sites that weren’t displayed.

I think its very cool.  I (Warren) have been using it here and at home for a couple of months, and it works well.   If you’re not comfortable at making these changes, we can help or do it for you.   It’s definitely worth doing.

Warren Frush

• Find out what’s true, what’s not at http://www.snopes.com/ where the tagline is “Rumor has it…”  Warren uses this site a lot when he gets emails that make statements that trigger his “could that really be true?” response.  It’s also a fun read.
• Real or Fake? http://urbanlegends.about.com/ is another site that seems like they get most of it right.  Take the quiz: you may have seen any or all of these pictures in your inbox. Are they real or fake? http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_image_quiz.htm
• Truth or Fiction is another site to help keep your bubble level.