Hackers Hijack Email Contacts

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Have you received a rogue email from a friend or acquaintance that seems out of character?  For example:  Why is Aunt Mildred calling me “Friend” in her email?  Or, does neighbor Fred really want me to invest in Nigeria?

Odds are, their email accounts – particularly if located at online services like Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Windows Live Hotmail – have been hijacked.  (Visit About.com at About.com:Free Email Review for a review of the top 16 free email services by Heinz Tschabitscher.)

With an online service, the email application is cloud-based; the application does not reside locally on the computer, so it is probably the online account that has been compromised.  (Your PC could also be infected, which is discussed later.) Typically, the password is discovered, providing an easy entry to stored emails (which could contain sensitive information) and a contact list that can be exploited.

If this happens to you, login to your account and take these steps:

  • Change your password – Use a complex password with at least eight upper and lower-case characters, numbers and special characters.  (Please See the January 2013 issue of Bryley Tips and Information for the article “Simple passwords = disaster” at Bryley-Tips-and-Information-January-2013
  • Change your Recovery Information (challenge questions) – If the hacker has account access, he/she can retrieve your challenge questions.  Using these questions, he can then reenter the account after you change the password.
  • Set the highest-possible level of security – Select the highest-possible level, even though it adds complexity to the login process.
  • Check related accounts – You might have put passwords into saved emails that the hacker can now access.  Change your passwords and your Recovery Information on all other accounts that might have been compromised.
  • Contact list – Email the folks in your Contact list and tell them:  “I am having an issue with my email account, which I am addressing.  Please contact me if you receive an unusual email that appears to have come from my email address.  Do not open any links within the email itself.”
  • Backup emails and contacts – Backups allow recovery; backup your contacts whenever you add or change a contact.  Backup your emails as often as necessary to keep from losing stored emails.

As with any account, change your password regularly and change your challenge questions periodically.  Visit the About.com article on how to change your Gmail at About.com: Change Your Gmail Password.

For a related article by Leo Notenboom at Ask Leo, please visit Ask-Leo.com: How to stop someone sending email with my address.

If the email application reside locally and connects to a secure site, your PC would be suspect and should be interrogated by virus and malware scanners.  You should also scrutinize your Microsoft Outlook contacts and rename the Contacts folder.

It is still possible that your computer is infected; your account information might have been recovered through a keyboard logger that records your keystrokes and sends them to the hacker.  If so, you need to clean-up your computer before taking the steps above.

HP still top PC manufacturer worldwide in a slowing market

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Despite internal issues, HP remained the top manufacturer of PCs worldwide in Q4 of 2012 followed by Lenovo (the Chinese firm that purchased IBM’s PC business in 2005) and then Dell. Overall, PC shipments dropped 6.4% from Q4 of 2011.

Dan Reisinger of eWeek notes that Q4 of 2012 is the first time in five years where the PC market declined; possibly due to economic conditions or the increasing popularity of tablets. Other potential factors noted by Mr. Reisinger:

  • Declining innovation in PCs
  • PCs last longer, slowing replacement
  • PCs are a boring commodity, no longer competing for mainstream interests

Go to HP tops Lenovo in lackluster PC market for the full briefing from Lance Whitney at CNet News. Visit HP barely maintains PC lead over Lenovo in Q4, says IDC for a related article from Sharon Gaudin at ComputerWorld. Visit PC Sales Persistently Declining: 10 Reasons Why for more from Don Reisinger of eWeek.

Preview into Microsoft Office 2013

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In addition to Windows 8, I have also been using Office 2013 over the past few months; I like some things, but not everything:
• Excel updates ripple slowly down the page; they seemed to run a bit faster in previous versions.
• The top-right Window icons have shifted somewhat; the Minimize icon ( _ ) is now in the middle rather than on the left while the Help icon is now on the left.
Since I rarely use the Help icon, but occasionally use the Minimize icon, I dislike this change

Booting Windows 8 into Safe Mode

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Safe Mode is useful for diagnosing PC problems. Because Windows 8 starts quickly, you cannot get into Safe Mode by pressing [F8] during the boot-up process (as you could with previous versions of Windows). The new procedure:

  • Go to Settings and then select Power
  • Hold [Shift] and then press Restart to open System Recovery Options
  • Select Troubleshoot from System Recovery Options
  • Select Advanced options
  • Select Startup Settings
  • Enable Safe Mode

$295 Raised for Hudson Charities by Bryley Systems Inc. and Yours for Children, Inc.

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Bryley Systems and Yours for Children together raised $295 for the Hudson Food Bank and the Hudson Boys & Girls Club.  The money was generated through a free giveaway of refurbished PCs in exchange for the suggested donation of $35 to either Hudson non-profit organization.

With the generous contribution of 9 used PCs by Yours for Children, Bryley Systems was able to rebuild and provide the PCs for the donations.  Not only did the swap prove successful, but it also promotes a greener solution to the removal of office equipment via renewal and recycling.  Bryley Systems has performed this PC-for-donations fundraising twice in 2012 and approximately annually since October 2002 and this will not be the last time that such a fundraising strategy is demonstrated.

Yours for Children, a nonprofit Massachusetts sponsor of the USDA Child and Adult Care Food Program is located at 303-313 Washington Street in Auburn, MA.  Bryley Systems, a Managed IT Service Provider, is located at 12 Main Street in downtown Hudson.

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Garin Livingston, Bryley’s Senior Tech, rebuilds donated PCs.

http://www.wbjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130218/PRINTEDITION/130219952/0/FRONTPAGE

 

Job Promotion at Bryley Systems

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I am very pleased to announce that Michelle Denio has been promoted to the position of Administrative Support Technician. Michelle is a key member of Bryley’s Technical Service Department and with this new expanded role she will be able to use her expertise and knowledge of Bryley’s clients to everyone’s advantage.   Congratulations!!!!

52_BryleySystems2

 

Hudson Sun

Why business users might consider an Ultrabook over a Tablet.

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It seems that tablet computers are in the news daily, from Apple’s iPad (iOS) to Microsoft’s Surface (Windows RT) to Samsung’s Galaxy (Droid).  I like a tablet for viewing, but typing on a bare tablet is not the same as using a full keyboard.  Also, compatibility with office-productivity applications is limited on most tablets.
Ultrabooks are not getting the same press, but for those who want that keyboard and a few ports with their computer, ultrabooks are smaller, thinner, and lighter than notebook computers; they come with Microsoft Windows 8 (or can be legally downgraded to Windows 7) for full compatibility with your office applications.
Tablets have a clear advantage on weight, price, and screen resolution; perfect for viewing (inexpensively) movies, reading books, checking reports, etc.  Ultrabooks usually have greater storage capacity and can support legacy items like DVDs, making them a better replacement for your notebook or desktop computer.
Basically, it comes down to usage and preference; both ultrabooks and tablets continue to evolve, taking features from one another.  There are more tablets out there, but ultrabooks, many now with the touch-screen capabilities of Windows 8, are evolving and coming on strong.
InformationWeek has an informative article Tablet Vs. Ultrabook: 10 Ways to Choose by Jeff Bertolucci on choosing between a tablet and an ultrabook. 
ComputerWorld has the article 3 Windows 8 ultrabooks: Lightweight and powerful  by Brian Nadel who briefly compares ultrabooks (favorably) to tablets before reviewing ultrabook models from HP, Sony, and Toshiba.

System Builders Await Surface’s Impact

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Gavin Livingstone, President of Bryley Systems, talks to Channel Pro Networkabout Microsoft’s Surface tablet.  Read the full article System Builders Await Surface’s Impact

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Garin Livingstone Passes his Windows 7 Exam!

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Congrats Garin Livingstone, Bryley Systems Senior Tech, for successfully completing and passing your Windows 7 configuring class and test!!! image

Migrating Postini users to Google Apps for Business; also, an alternative

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As mentioned in our August 2012 Bryley Tips and Information, Google has moved Google Message Security (GMS)/Postini into Google Apps for Business and will migrate all GMS/Postini customers to Google Apps for Business by the end of 2013.

 

Google will migrate GMS/Postini users gradually, focusing initially on its large, direct-billed customers and eventually tackling those customers purchasing through GMS/Postini resellers (Bryley Systems is a GMS/Postini reseller.).  By December 31, 2013, all former GMS/Postini customers should be migrated.

 

Google has not yet disclosed significant details about this migration process, but we believe that it will require, at a minimum, these steps for each customer:

  • Setup a Google Apps for Business account
  • Export GMS/Postini rules and import them into Google Apps for Business
  • Migrate user accounts from GMS/Postini to Google Apps for Business
  • Change the MX Record for the email-server address

 

If you use Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes for your email, the email-protection-and-filtering component of Google Apps for Business will be available at the same price through your agreement term.  However, your price could increase if you add any other Google Apps for Business features to your account.

 

McAfee, a security company owned by Intel Corporation, offers an alternative to those that do not wish to migrate to Google Apps for Business.  Their service is McAfee® SaaS Email Protection and Continuity(MEPC).  (Bryley Systems is a long-term reseller of MEPC and other McAfee security products.)

 

MEPC features include:

  • Spam filtering,
  • Protection against malware and SMTP-based attacks, and
  • Continuity.  (Continuity provides web-based access to email, both receiving as well as sending, when your email server is down.  Also, once your email server is running, your web-based emails automatically resynchronize with your email server.)

 

McAfee also offers:

  • McAfee® SaaS Web Protection – Web-content filtering
  • McAfee® SaaS Email Archiving – Stand-along email archiving
  • McAfee® SaaS Email Encryption Service – Email encryption add-on to MEPC

 

For details, please call us at 978.562.6077.  Or, email Sales@Bryley.com.