Last month we wrote about the Gmail phishing scheme, and it looks like that’s not the only one to watch out for! News has been popping up all over the internet to watch out for the newest PayPal phishing scheme. Most phishing scams simply want to steal your login information to make changes to your account or steal your payment information but this one is proving more sinister. It seems the scammers behind the current PayPal phishing scheme are trying to get enough information to steal your entire identity.? Most consumers are going to be asking what exactly are these scams? How do I spot one? And how do we protect ourselves?
The PayPal phishing scheme is much like most phishing schemes in most ways. Consumers are receiving an official-looking email claiming that their account use has been limited because of “unusual activity”. In the email they are advised to click on a link to contact PayPal in order to resolve the issue. Once the user clicks on the link they are brought to a website where they are asked to log into PayPal, then they are redirected to an official looking PayPal warning page, which explains why their account was restricted and how to get the account back. At this point the scammers already have your PayPal log in information, but in order to ‘regain access’ to your account they require you to fill out another page which includes questions like your name, address, mother’s name, and social security number, things that PayPal never requires. Because of the questions these scammers are asking, it’s easy to assume they want more than to steal your credit card information and wrack up a load of bills on you. They want to steal identities!
The good news is there are ways to protect yourself and you don’t have to be all that tech-savvy to do it! The most effective ways are simply to use common sense and stay vigilante when you go through your emails. A lot of phishing scams are easily caught just by paying attention to the emails themselves. An email that is part of a phishing scheme will usually have small grammatical and spelling errors. Errors that big companies would never allow in the emails they send out. Also, if you notice an email address you don’t recognize, you’re better off marking it spam than opening the email and clicking on it’s links, even if it does mention issues with your accounts. The safest way to be sure what’s going on with any account you may have on any website is to go directly to the website in question. Instead of clicking on links to the site in a questionable email, go to your address bar and type in the link to the direct website. If your account has an issue, you’ll be notified when you try to log in.
Our job here at Computer Geeks is more than just to be a place you can come into to get your laptop fixed. An important part of our job is to keep our customers and the general public up to date with what scams, schemes, viruses, and malware to be aware of. The more people who know what threats are out there and what to look for to spot a scam, the less these cyber criminals can take advantage of. The best way to minimize the threat of being fooled by a scammer or getting a bad virus is to be pro-active. Stay educated on threats, change your password regularly, keep from saving any important account passwords in your browsers, and don’t open emails you are wary of.? Also, for simple website issues always remember that most companies have IT support or customer representatives you can contact and with any questions you have. And if you ever find yourself having a bigger issue, like a virus, call on a professional. Bring your computer into a computer service shop, or call a mobile company like Computer Geeks for in home computer repair.
The Microsoft Surface Hub is Microsoft is an interactive technology whiteboard. It comes in 55 and 84 inch sizes. The Surface Hub features a 1080p touchscreen. It also has multi-touch capabilities. Furthermore, it runs on Windows 10. Finally, Microsoft Surface Hub is very popular.
Microsoft sells their Surface Hub mostly to businesses. I can see Microsoft Surface Hub being very popular with IT support, and in computer service shops. It’s popular in general. They launched Microsoft Surface Hub in March 2016. Keep in mind the release date is 9 months later than Microsoft wanted. Then, a few months later, they started running out. But now, according to Microsoft officials, their product is back for sale.
As a result, they shipped ?Surface Hubs to over 2,000 customers. These things hardly sell one at a time. The average customer asks for 50 of them per order. But one major car company really outdid itself. This company ordered 1,500 of them. Officials also say they’ll offer a ‘try and buy’ service. That’s only for the US and Europe. Consumers will be able to try it for 30 days before either buying it or sending it back (kinda like those infomercials). So due to the size and demand of Microsoft Surface Hub, don’t expect it to come cheap. A small model costs around $9,000. Then you have the large ones, which costs well over $20,000.
But the Microsoft Surface Hub has another dilemma. Their supply can’t meet demand. And from where I’m sitting, demand isn’t going down anytime soon. And another thing: Why does Microsoft allow companies to buy 1,500 at a time? Their lies the problem. There needs to be a maximum limit on how many a consumer can buy. It makes no sense for anybody to buy that many Microsoft Surface Hub systems at once. So limit that. In addition to that, Microsoft Surface Hub is about to get competition. In early 2017, Google expects to release The Google Jamboard. I bet The Google Jamboard will make sure enough supply meets demand. Then how will they stand up to that?
Some people heeded my call to avoid the Black Friday madness. In fact, a lot of people did. Cyber Monday breaks all online records.
So, according to many retail store numbers, Cyber Monday 2016 is the biggest day in online shopping history! They estimate consumers spent $3.39 billion yesterday. That’s $50 million more than they spent on Black Friday. Also, classic toy brands dominated sales. Lego, Nerf and Barbie all made a killing. While top selling electronics include Xbox, Playstation 4, and Apple iPads. It looks like Samsung’s trying to make a comeback. Because one top selling item is their 4K TV.
Mobile sales also went up. However, most of those sales were processed through laptop clicks. For the first time ever, mobile sales went up over a billion dollars. But this isn’t a one time trend. We should expect this in the years to come, according to some experts. “Cyber Monday is on track to be the biggest online shopping day ever, surpassing our forecast by almost $27m or 0.8 percent,” said one Adobe analysts. Deep discounts also had a lot to do with Cyber Monday’s success. Television and tablet prices went down over 20%. Toys and pet care prices decreased over 10%. Video game systems relatively stayed the same price.
So yes, the growing dissatisfaction of Black Friday has a lot to do with this trend. But let’s face it. Online shopping is just more peaceful and convenient. You take a trip to the store. Then you find out your product isn’t there. You wasted a trip. But online, the only thing you waste is a minute or two. There may be some downsides to online shopping. You better hope your gift gets there on time. You may be at the mercy of slow delivery service. And just hope you’re not at the mercy of disgruntle shippers. How will you do your holiday shopping: online shopping or the old fashioned way?
This is a consumer alert: Hackers attack adult website! In fact, hackers targeted several adult websites. In addition to that, they exposed many emails. Also, this could lead to lots of embarrassment, even scandal.
The biggest attack hit adult website Adult Friend Finder. It brags of being the world’s largest swinger sex online community. There’s probably truth to that. Because hackers exposed 339 million accounts. Also, hackers exposed 15 million ‘deleted’ accounts. Former members thought they closed these accounts. Not really. But Adult Fare Finder isn’t the only victim. Hackers hit Cams.com, an adults only chat room. Hackers exposed over 60 million of their accounts. Furthermore, they hit long running adult magazine company Penthouse. Hackers stole and exposed 7 million accounts. So overall, they took over 400 million adult entertainment based accounts.
Some of this data is around 20 years ago. That’s when the Internet was in it’s infancy. And right before the attack, researchers found a flaw. As with most hacks, especially of this size, we don’t know who is responsible. There are some suspects. However, according to Leaked Source, hackers cracked 99% of all the passwords. Complaints of weak security built up for weeks. Some customers even complained of extortion. I guess those concerns came too little too late.
I hope the victims get justice. Maybe the law will expose the hackers in the same way they exposed the victims. Yes, these are victims. But there is a lesson we can all learn. Remember Ashley Madison last year? We learned a lot through those attacks. We learned a lot of these accounts, especially the women accounts, were faked. So the lesson is, leave these adult websites alone! I’m not one to judge, but in my years in this industry, such websites are bad news. Many of them lead to spyware, malware, identity theft, and goodness knows what else. What scandals will this hack lead to? How many important people will suffer?
Google is so much a part of our lives we take it for granted. They have control of the search engines and maps. Also, if you have a Droid, thank Google. If you watch You Tube, thank Google for that. Now there’s Google Home: Should you buy?
So Google Home is a voice speaker system. You use it to control appliances, help you with chores and it will answer small questions. Does this sound familiar? It should. That’s because Amazon Echo does the same thing. But what, if anything, makes Google Home different? And is the investment worth it?
Google Home costs $130. The set up is easy. Download the app to your device and plug in the two. It plays music through various sources. Just let Google know what song you’re in the mood for. Furthermore, Google Home keeps you up to date with all the latest events. Just ask. However, if it’s videos you want, you better stick with You Tube. Because that’s about the only access you’ll get through Google Home. In one review, a man asks some pretty cool questions. The device answered. But it’s Google, so what do you expect? Consequently,? Home works with Samsung, Phillip Hue, and Nest products only. Surprise surprise: Those are all Google based entities. Finally, the Google voice name, hold on to your hats for this one: Google Assistant.
First of all, Google has some of the greatest minds of the world. Surely they can come up with a better name than Google Assistant. Others have Siri, Echo and Alexa? Can’t they come up with a better name? But Google Home is competitive. It offers a great home device and at a great price. If you’re a die hard Google fan, get the product. But if you’re an Amazon or Apple fan, why bother? And if you think Google dominates your life enough already (like I do), then don’t get this product. So should you buy Google Home?
Learn a lesson, kids. You don’t invade other people’s privacy. This is especially true for social media. Justice comes to celebgate hacker Ryan Collins. And it comes swift and hard.
Ryan Collins, a 36-year-old from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to federal hacking charges. Furthermore, he admitted two a two year online scam. Also, he explained the scam in detail. He gained 100 passwords through phishing. These passwords included the celebritity passwords of people like Jennifer Lawerence and Rhianna. Another thing he did was con celebrities into handing him passwords and emails. He did this by pretending to be Google or Apple. Collins used software to steal their iCloud backups. Finally, Collins ran a fake online modeling company. He did this to trick women into sending nude photographs. ?All of this is according to court documents.
As a result, 50 Apple iCloud accounts and 72 Gmail accounts got compromised. In August 2014, over 100 celebrity photos leaked online. Most were either nude or unflattering. While Apple’s iCloud service took much of the blame, people forgot there was a hacker among us. Also, people forgot Collins hacked into Google accounts as well. He was arrested in Los Angeles, but tried in his home state of Pennsylvania. Collins faced five years in federal prison. But since he plead guilty, he will only do 18 months maximum, in federal prison.
That’s the only reason Ryan Collins admitted to any of this, or plead guilty. The gig was up. The hacking party was over. You think he’s sorry for his crimes? You really think he’s sorry for nearly destroying people’s lives? I may sound cynical, but I doubt it. Collins is sorry he’s going to prison. This plea bargain lessened the time. This should be a lesson to us all. The law, the victims, the courts are not playing! Because if you post nude or condemning photos of someone online without their permission or approval, they will catch you. They will prosecute and imprison you. Just ask some of the other sextortionists caught and doing hard time. Speaking of hard time, do you think 18 months is enough for Ryan Collins?
