Geeks2U | July Newsletter

Identity Theft Part 1: 5 Steps to Protect Yourself from Phishing

Although not only the realm of computer criminals, identity theft is a growing problem for many computer users. It may take many forms, and if it happens to you it can be financially devastating. To help our customers in this area we will be covering the topic over the course of the next few months. .

In the first part of our series in identity theft we will talk about phishing, and how you can protect yourself from this growing problem.

Phishing is the criminally fraudulent process through which a computer criminal tries to gain information by posing as a trusted entity. In most cases this takes the form of emails that look like they're from a company you trust. The criminal is trying to "fish" for sensitive information, such as login credentials, passwords, credit card information, and sometimes just personal or business information with the intent of using it to obtain credit in your name. .

Luckily protecting yourself from this type of crime doesn't need to be difficult. In fact, with a few simple steps you can ensure that you and your information are protected.

5 Ways to Protect Yourself

1. Learn to read email headers. This simple information can tell you much about where an email came from, and can even allow you to trace it back to it's source.

2. Watch the address bar when you click on a link in an email. If the address of the website doesn't match the link you thought you were going to, then it likely wasn't a legitimat email.

3. Navigate directly to the site, instead of using the link in the email. When you get that email from PayPal (or whatever other online sites you use), if it says you need to log in to confirm something and you haven't made any changes to the acount - actually type in www.paypal.com instead of using the link in the email.

4. Only send usernames and passwords over secure connections. Ensure the address starts with https:// (notice the s). Most legitimate sites will use secure connections for any login related activity.

5. Unless you were expecting an email be suspicious of it. Why would eBay, or Paypal be sending you an email telling you to confirm information? If you haven't changed addresses, or email addresses with a site, be suspicious and pay very close attention to the links and addresses if you do decide the email is legitmate.

Protecting yourself from identity theft doesn't have to be difficult. You now have a few simple ideas that can help you to avoid becoming a victim.

In next month's article we will cover how to secure your personal and business files against identity theft.

Back in the Day – The First Computer Virus

The idea of computer viruses isn't new at all, and in today's world, the average PC user could tell you what a virus is. Many of us can also relate our experiences with the time(s) our computers have had them.

One thing many of us never consider is how the idea of self replicating programs started. It may surprise you to know that the first ever computer virus was the brainchild of a 15 year old grade nine student in 1982. That students name was Rich Skrenta.

The virus was called Elk Cloner, and it was made to infect the Apple II computers of the time. Back then their was no internet, and computers weren't networked like they are today, so the virus was made to infect floppy disks.

When an infected floppy disk was inserted the virus would move to the boot sector of the computer. Upon every 50th boot of an infected PC, the following message would be displayed.

Elk Cloner:
The program with a personality 
It will get on all your disks
It will infiltrate your chips
Yes it's Cloner!
It will stick to you like glue
It will modify RAM too

Send in the Cloner

According to a post on Rich Skrenta's blog, the virus was never intended to be harmful, and had been made as a practical joke. Whatever the intent had been, you now know where the first virus came from.

Gadget of the Month

IOGear's Mobile Digital Scribe

This month's gadget is one that has long been sought after by many computer users. The main reason many users struggle to really master the PC is because of their typing speed.

At geeks2u we deal with people who have used computers for years and still type with one finger, on a daily basis. If you fall into that category, IOGears digital scribe can help!

The mobile digital scribe is the worlds first electronic pen that can record your handwriting while you write to any surface.

In other words, that interoffice memo that you were planning to send but didn't feel like typing can now be handwritten first.

With the digital scribe pen you would write your memo on a normal piece of paper, and then upload your handwriting to your PC. The included OCR (optical character recognition) software would convert your writing to digital text which you can use for any purpose on your PC.

For more information, or to get your own cool digital pen, see IOGear's website.