“Everyone’s calling and emailing me, replying to a message I never physically sent, asking if I sent this message! The message looks like a virus or scam. OMG. What do I do?”
A client called me pretty much saying exactly the above last week.
Turned out he’d clicked on a malicious link in an email or the hackers guessed his overly easy password.
The hacker had sent out a link to a virus-laden file to his entire address book of over 1,000 contacts.
The only reason he knew this had happened was because he started getting a torrent of emails and phone calls asking if he’d sent that document.
The hackers make these types of things look very real and convincing. In this case, it claimed to relate to an existing invoice. If his contacts had clicked on this and gotten infected, they might never have forgiven or wanted to work with him again!
To add insult to injury, because Microsoft detected excessive email going out of his account, he was also locked for a full day, not able to send any email whatsoever from his business email.
When we perform migrations to Google Apps, one of the benefits we often extol is Google’s amazing anti-spam features. People are routinely amazed when they see their spam count dropping 95% or more.
But no matter what email system you use, you’ll never be immune without the knowledge to back it up. Identity theft concerns were up a staggering 100,000 in 2014 from 60,000 in 2013! Spammers and “phishers” are getting smarter and more effective.
So I’d like to show you 7 tips to ensure you’re at a minimum risk of being scammed or infected with harmful trojans and viruses.
- Never open unknown or suspicious emails. If you at all suspect the email of being malicious or compromised, or you don’t recognize the sender at all, don’t open it. You can always call the apparent sender and ask if they sent the email. Emails themselves can sometimes directly infect your computer, particularly if you enable HTML or use Outlook or another desktop mail program.
- Never click unknown links. Virus-laden links that download or inject viruses into your Internet browser are perhaps the number one cause of viruses, along with attachments (see #3).If you see an email that seems to be from your bank, cell phone provider, PayPal, the IRS (God forbid) or any other official-looking company you may or may not do business with, carefully inspect the link and content first by hovering over the link. If you see anything in the URL address status bar at the lower left of your browser (see screenshot below) other than the official site from which you’re being emailed.
If you’re suspicious whatsoever, do not open the link and instead manually go directly to the sender’s website. - Never open unknown attachments. Along the same lines as clicking unknown links, attachments are the leading cause of viruses and trojans. If you’re unsure about the integrity of an attachment, do not hesitate to reply to the sender, if you know them, confirming the attachment is legitimate.
- Never supply personal information via email. No matter the sender, even if you know them, do not provide personal information, such as your social security number or bank information, via email.Not only is email insecure (information is transmitted unencrypted and anyone “sniffing” your network or anywhere between you and the recipient can see your email content!), but it is also possible to pose as someone else—so what you think is your sister could actually be a foreign scammer trying to get your SSN.
- Use a secure email password and change it at least once per year. I’ve seen many of my clients with passwords like “Robert82”. Once I told them that this password can be cracked in minutes by any hacker with half a brain, they usually change it. Not only should you use a password with more than 12 characters, the password should not contain your name or anything anyone might know about you. You can, however, string together dictionary words in a phrase that you’ll remember, for example, “RemotePillowPhoneChoose2”. You can also choose a sentence that you’ll remember and use the first letter of each word as a password. For example, “This website is one of the coolest websites I’ve ever seen!” becomes “TwiootwcIes!” To remember that password, all you have to do is remember the sentence and enter the first letter of each word.
- Use an anti-virus program that scans email. This is especially the case if you use a desktop mail program like Outlook, and if you use Windows. AVG Internet Security is an anti-virus suite that also protects your email. It’s also more effective and much less resource-intensive than Norton or McAfee. InstanTek’s Easy-IT antivirus, security, and backup software for small businesses also includes this!
- Always be vigilant. While this may sound cynical, with rampant identity theft, viruses, and other cyber-security issues plaguing the world, it’s important to have a vigilant mindset when using your computer. Assume that unknown emails could be potentially dangerous and err on the side of caution.
I hope that helps! I love feedback. Please feel free to comment if you have any thoughts or have any questions.
