Busy Signal Service Targets Cyberheist Victims

Merry day after Christmas. Hope you all had, or are having, a wonderful time with family and friends.
The following article is very interesting and just goes to show you what lengths the cyber crimminals are going to in order to steal your stuff.

To summarize the article up in just a few sentences, Cyber criminals are using a service to flood your cell phone and or land line with so many incoming junk calls that the number is unable to receive legitimate calls.  The service is marketed as a diversionary tactic to assist e-thieves in robbing commercial customers of banks that routinely call customers to verify large financial transfers. So while you are getting flooded with calls your accounts are being drained.

I hope you find this article as interesting as I did. Have a happy rest of the year and I'll be talking to you soon.

http://krebsonsecurity.com/2011/12/busy-signal-service-targets-cyberheist-victims/

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Becareful when you reach for the Clouds.

Hello and welcome to another addition of the Kesar Tech Blog.
Today I would like to talk to you about Cloud storage.
I have tried it and don't really care for it.
Here are some concerns I have with it:

Security of stored data and data in transit may be a concern when storing sensitive data at a cloud storage provider. I other words, is it a secure network.

Your ability to access your data is lower than local storage depending on how much you are  willing to spend for WAN (Wide Area Network) bandwidth

Reliability and availability depends on wide area network availability and on the level of precautions taken by the service provider.

Users with specific records-keeping requirements, such as public agencies that must retain electronic records according to statute, may encounter complications with using cloud computing and storage.

My opinion, is that Cloud storage may be good for business, but I would not recommend it for personal use. If you are looking for personal storage ideas, please refer to my February 17, 2010 post:
http://kesartech.blogspot.com/2010/02/data-back-up.html
I do refer to online storage in this post which is now Cloud storage, but this was purely to give example of all the different types of storage options available.
Below you will find an article that better explains the benefits and downfalls of cloud storage

Have a safe and blessed Christmas season.

http://www.cio.com/article/696527/Moving_to_the_Cloud_in_2012_Look_Out_for_These_Pitfalls

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Beware of Christmas scams

Scammers absolutely love the holiday season. There are likely to be more online scam victims during those busy shopping and travelling December days than at any other time during the year. As such, we compiled a list of Christmas scams you should beware of.


Facebook contest and coupon scams
There are more than 800 million active Facebook users interconnected in a worldwide social network that is at the heart of their online lives and digital identities. And that’s exactly why Facebook has been and can still easily be used by identity thieves to obtain your personal or financial information. So always be careful on Facebook.

Beware of Facebook scams which could take the form of fake contests, irresistible offers or coupons requiring you to hand out your personal information on untrustworthy websites.

And always use common sense.

Scareware, rogueware and fake antiviruses
Scareware, rogueware and fake antiviruses are definitely not new scam tactics, but they should still be treated very seriously. Be careful of web pages or antiviruses you’ve never heard of that are warning you of infections found on your computer. And be extra suspicious if you’re asked to pay to have those infections removed.

Infected screensavers, ringtones and e-cards
People love to download screensavers, ringtones and to send out e-cards during the holidays. But before jumping head first into the Christmas spirit, make sure you have an updated antivirus software that will protect you from infected screensavers, ringtones, e-cards and all of your other holiday downloads.

Christmas phishing scams
The busy shopping and travelling December days are breeding grounds for phishing scams. Be very careful of fake UPS package delivery emails, fake hotel wrong transaction emails or phony banking emails. If strange emails are asking you to enter your personal information (username, password, date of birth, etc.) on illegitimate sites, then run far, far away. Learn how to spot phishing scams.

Discounted hot item scams

Every holiday season there is one hot item that’s really hard to get. If you’re trying to find it online and found a deal that’s too good to be true, then it’s likely to be too good to be true. Very often, hot items on scam sites are advertised with huge discounts, but are never actually delivered. So stay on trustworthy websites that have very good reputations and standings with consumer watch groups.

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