Email scammers are finding new opportunities with to trick unsuspecting victims into downloading malicious software with the recent release of Windows 10. Tech news sites are filled with stories about the new Microsoft operating system release, and many of our clients are excited to get it onto their computers. Some of our clients are reporting fake Microsoft emails from scammers that claim to have the entire Windows 10 upgrade attached.

Symantec’s Intelligence report for June shows a marked drop in spam received by business email users worldwide. Their metrics show businesses received a little less than half the spam they usually receive over a month. Perhaps the spammers are taking vacation days as well?

It can happen in an instant. You click on an attachment from Granny and the next thing you know you are watching your files getting locked up before your eyes. Then an important-looking message pops up on your desktop demanding you pay a substantial fee to a group you’ve never heard of using a online payment method. They make it clear – pay now or you’ll never see the precious photos of your Chihuahuas again.

According to a New York Times article from last fall, Android devices are a new target for “ransomware”. These malicious software apps act similarly to the fake FBI virus scams that have been attacking Windows PCs for years. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to help protect your Android smartphone or device from these scammers and their malware apps.

You’re online, watching a compilation video of cute kittens, and your home phone rings. A person claiming to be a representative from Microsoft tells you they detectsed a threat to your computer. The caller tries to frighten you into allowing a remote connection to your computer, showing you a bunch of warnings, maybe even some red error messages on your computer. The caller pressures you to take immediate action and buy their service because you are in imminent danger!

Last week we published an blog post about how to avoid being a victim of a phishising scam. We hope you took a minute to read it. Although some think the identity theft that happens on the Internet is techie wizardry, nearly all of it can be thrwarted by just being a little more aware of what you’re doing when you’re out on the big bad Web. Skepticism is always the best first line of defense against cyber criminals.

Has this ever happened to you? You open an “official-looking” email that looks like it’s from your bank, credit card, etc. The message is dire — someone may be messing around with your account, and only clicking on a link to “correct” or “verify” your account information will save you. Hurry! Quick! Do it now! Without even thinking about it, fear of loss drives you to click on the link and supply the information requested (and breaking one of the cardinal rules of online security in the process).

Warning: it isn’t just your computer at risk from hackers. Some recently discovered issues with wireless routers from two different companies show that they too can be vulnerable to hacker exploits that can leave your data exposed to online evildoers. In one case, the affected routers allowed hackers to access data on the victim’s network, while in the other the router was used to distribute a self-replicating worm onto other users’ networks.

Last summer, Agent Derek M wrote a post for this blog on a popular “infected computer” phone scam. It turns out that there’s a new, more costly twist on this con. Because this new twist is dangerous and more costly to remediate, we thought we would reach out and reiterate some of the points Derek made in his post on the subject last June.

As a kid, few things could bring a smile to my face faster than cookies. My mother would always find me more cooperative for unpleasant tasks if she if she ended the request with “then I’ll bake cookies.” In my book, cookies are definitely good things.

But what about web browser cookies?

If experience has taught us anything, it’s that computer-related scammers are persistent. By the time law enforcement catches on and alerts the public, the con-artists are already on to their latest scheme to separate you from your hard-earned cash.

As the holiday shopping season ramps up, a lot of us are on the lookout for good deals on gifts for family and friends. With all the shopping available online these days, maximizing your gift budget is as easy as firing up your smartphone and hitting your favorite shopping site.

About three years ago, a message began circulating in cyberspace saying that Geek Squad had discovered a Facebook app called “the Christmas Tree App” and we thought it was “one of the worst viruses ever.” This was a hoax.

One of my favorite things about Facebook is that it helps me keep up with my family & friends. I’ve traveled a lot in my life, and lived in other states and overseas — so Facebook allows us to share a little bit in each other’s lives. Whether sharing pictures of kids, trips & pets, or sharing life experiences as they happen, it generally let’s each of us know what’s going on, and helps keep us close.

Imagine this – you are sitting at home minding your own business when you receive a phone call from an official sounding person telling you that your computer is seriously infected with viruses. They say they will help you out and eliminate the viruses if you will provide a credit card number.

The news media is currently abuzz over an announcement by Karsten Nohl of Security Research Labs, indicating that there’s a new phone hack affecting some SIM cards. What does this mean to you, and what do we know about this latest threat? 

Apple computer users have mostly flown under the “malware radar” for years. For a variety of reasons, the Mac operating system (OS) wasn’t targeted by hackers as much as Windows was, and Mac users were able to browse the Web largely unaffected by infections. But as Apple’s share of the computing market has grown, cyber-criminals have set their sights on the Mac OS.

The makers of the Opera web browser announced recently that their internal network was “breached” earlier this month. The company says they have resolved the issue, and that it doesn’t appear that any user information was touched. However, the intruder was able to infect the browser update file, and some Windows users of Opera may have downloaded the infected update.

There have been a number of articles in the tech press lately about vulnerabilities with smartphone passcodes. Phones using both Android and iOS systems have been plagued by hacks that allow unauthorized users to get around the passcode lockscreen. Apple recently released an update to their operating system intended to address this problem. A similar issue was also discovered in Galaxy Note 2 phones.

Update: Since publishing this article last week, Java 7u13 has been released, with important fixes included. We’ll post a follow-up article once the blacklisting has been removed.

Security experts have issued several warnings about security holes in recent versions of the Java software from Oracle. Java is used in web browsers across operating systems like Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, and is primarily used by websites to display dynamic content on your browser and some downloadable applications.

So you’re sitting there, innocently using your computer, when a window flashes on the screen, bearing the logo of the FBI. You’ve been locked out of your computer for breaking some not-too-specifically-identified copyright law. The solution on the screen? Pay a fine to the “FBI” to “unlock” your computer and use it again.

On Monday, July 9th, thousands of internet users could find themselves without internet when the FBI finally shuts down the DNS-Changer malware.

“Macs don’t get viruses.” A common thing we hear around the Geek Squad – and a common misconception.  One that is playing out at this very moment, as a large portion of Mac users in the United States are at risk of being infected with the Mac Bot-Net infection.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen an uptick in reports of phone scammers, some claiming to be Microsoft technicians or in a few cases, even claiming to be associated with Geek Squad.

You may have seen pcAnywhere, Norton, and Symantec mentioned in the news lately. It appears that a group of hackers had stolen code from Symantec dating back to 2006 and the code in question was used on a couple of the company’s popular software titles.. We’re here to explain what all of this means to you.

TRENDNet, maker of several IP Cameras, recently discovered a vulnerability in several of their SecurView cameras that allowed for online access in real-time by hackers. Fortunately the company released a quick firmware update to resolve the issue.

This holiday season Best Buy is launching a Holiday Gift Card Sweepstakes. Unfortunately, some nefarious people see this as an opportunity to attempt to commandeer personal information from you.

So what happens when a non-Windows OS gains traction? Well, the inevitable happens – and people using such systems without malware protection face a nasty wake-up call (yes, even systems with fruit-based logos adorning the front). Today’s example? Mac Defender.

Summary: The GPCode ransomware is a form of malware that encrypts your files and holds the data hostage.

Summary: A security alert about the Facebook “Christmas Tree” application is circulating online now that states:

Summary: Active Virtual Agents and Field Agents are reporting an increase in the occurrence of a FakeAV (Fake Anti-Virus Software) infection known as ThinkPoint.

For the past week, security companies have been tracking an email worm known as “VBMania.”