Free Antivirus Software: No Bargain
Free antivirus software may seem like a bargain, but it’s not. In this tough economy, getting something for free is always a good thing, right? Short answer: It depends on your tolerance for risk.
Here are some issues to consider before you delay an investment in network protection and use “freeware” instead. First, free antivirus software doesn’t provide the comprehensive protection you need against today’s biggest online threats. So when you trust your computer, applications, files and identity to free AV software, it can end up costing you more in time, aggravation, and money than you ever imagined.
Most free antivirus software is really just bait that some software companies use to lure you in. It’s usually a "light” version of one of their paid products that offers only limited protection against today’s online threats.
After you install most free antivirus software, you can expect to be hit with a barrage of annoying, time-wasting pop-up alerts telling you that it only provides basic” protection. Then you’ll receive recommendations to switch to one of the software maker’s paid security products for “complete” protection.
Another point to keep in mind: Experts agree that today’s biggest online threats come in forms that free antivirus software doesn’t stop. Threats such as rootkits, bots, keyloggers, hackers, phishing scams, and infected websites breeze right past most free antivirus software.
These threats can pose an even bigger danger than viruses, not only to your computer and files, but to your bank account as well. They can lead to a hard drive crash, system failure, or worse, identity theft. Also, free antivirus software is generally reactive. That means it only deals with threats after they’ve attacked and had an opportunity to do damage to your computer and files.
When you build your own security suite using standalone free security software, compatibility issues can cause conflicting alerts and even hard drive crashes. That’s even more time wasted - and a whole load of aggravation you don’t need.
So what’s the bottom line? Free antivirus software simply doesn’t provide the comprehensive protection you need in today’s online world. When you add up the various costs listed above, free antivirus software isn’t free at all.
How To Ensure A Safe And Virus-free Internet Experience
Visiting websites like Facebook, Ebay, or Youtube at work may keep you busy while there’s “nothing to do.” However, if your computer system isn’t properly protected, you run the risk of a virus or malware infection.
We’ve put together some of our best tips in this “safe browsing habits” article. Following these general guidelines can help protect you against Internet based threats.
One of the dangers faced by users when they browse the Internet is a hacker or infected computer accessing the browser’s cookies. Cookies are small text files saved on the computer by the server of the page the user is visiting.
The information cookies contain is usually related to the page being visited, which can include user names and passwords, browsing preferences, etc.
Java Applets and JavaScripts can also put users at risk. Although the majority of these programs that are run on the user’s computer at the request of the server are harmless, they can be designed to steal system information and send it to a
malicious user.
Another threat that is becoming one of the most dangerous threats on the Internet is phishing. This technique involves tricking users into thinking that are visiting a legitimate web page, when they are actually visiting a malicious page.
This technique is particularly dangerous when the malicious page simulates an online banking page. Web pages that perfectly imitate the appearance and functions of well-known banking entities are becoming increasingly common-place on the Internet and entice users into entering personal data that will fall directly in the hands of unscrupulous cyber criminals.
But that’s not all. There are also viruses that are capable of getting into computers when users browse the Internet. To do this, they usually exploit vulnerabilities that allow them to install themselves on computers without the user realizing.
The malicious code that have the capacity to do this include many Trojans designed to steal confidential information from ffected computers.
Online banking
When making transactions on the Internet, check that the process is carried out through a secure server. Several characteristics identify these types of servers. One of these is the address that appears in the address bar in the browser, which starts with https://.
What’s more, a padlock or key icon will appear in the browser window. If the padlock is closed or the key is complete (not broken), the server is secure.
Disable cookies
Another recommendation is to disable the cookies from the toolbar in the browser you are using. Although they must be enabled in order to access some web pages, they can be enabled temporarily.
Even though it may be tiresome enabling and disabling the cookies, it can prevent a lot of serious problems.
Double check the URL
To avoid falling victim to phishing scams, make sure that the page you are visiting is legitimate. To do this, copy the URL of the website you want to visit and paste it in the address bar of the browser. It is also advisable to identify and monitor the Java Applets and JavaScripts on the system to avoid any nasty surprises.
Raise your security level
Raise the security zone in the browser to ‘medium’ or ‘high.’ This can be done from the toolbar in the browser you are using.
Anti-virus is key
Finally, make sure that you have a reliable antivirus installed, which is updated at least daily. This will prevent malicious code from slipping into your computer while you are browsing the Internet.
Feature article by Terrell Canute, Service Technician at Tech Experts
Avoiding Common Email Security Threats
Corey Bogedain is a network technician and web developer with Tech Experts. |
Most companies today rely heavily on the use of email. Emailing is a very fast and cost effective form of communication for many different types of businesses.
Most companies use it as their main source of communication between employees. In fact, most employers do not realize the risk of using email.
Some risks range from viruses, hackers, to someone else just trying to gain a little information.
Here’s an overview of the most common email security threats in today’s Internet world.
Viruses
Viruses cause billions of dollars in damage to businesses every year.
Many corporate email systems are still quite vulnerable to viruses. In fact, in last year alone, an estimated 63 distinct email virus attacks hit the United States. These attacks come quickly and can spread quickly.
They mainly cause slowdowns across the internet. However some have been known to take down major corporation’s entire email systems.
Today’s viruses are very complex and often appear to be harmless such as personal notes, jokes, or promotions. While most viruses require recipients to download attachments in order to initiate infection and spread, some are designed to launch automatically with absolutely no user action required.
Spam
Studies have shown that 20 percent of corporate email is spam. A company that has a thousand employees could receive over two billion spam emails in a full year.
Most do not realize it until a lack of productivity ends up costing the companies billions of dollars each year.
While most spam is just annoying, some of it can be very dangerous. Most trick employees into opening malicious emails to spread faster. Also, many hackers have begun disguising viruses as spam.
Phishing
Phishing is used to trick a person into thinking the email is legit and came from a real website, usually asking the person to verify their password or to change some sort of account information.
Then, taking them to a fake website and stealing what you have typed in. This is the number one way people get their identity and personal information stolen.
Spyware
The main purpose of spyware is to install itself on the victim’s computer. It monitors all key strokes and mouse clicks so that they can later go back and collect usernames, passwords, credit card numbers and bank account numbers.
These infections can stay installed on computers for many months without an antivirus picking them up. Most are detected and removed instantly if the user keeps their antivirus up to date.
Having a great antivirus that scans files as well as emails can help prevent virus attacks, phishing and spyware.
Users should also have an up to date spam filter that prevents the infection from getting to your inbox to begin with. And most importantly never open an email attachment you didn’t specifically request.
Also, pay attention to links inside emails that appear legitimate. Many times, phishers will send you an email that looks like it came from an official source. After clicking the links, you’re redirected to a site on the hacker’s network. This is often used to collect personal information and passwords.
What is a Trojan Virus and How Does It Affect You?
Will Alston is a PC hardware technician with Tech Experts. |
We have all experienced the unfortunate virus infection on our computer; it’s not fun and most times it causes down time on the computer, cost to have it fixed, loss of data, and possible identity theft.
A trojan horse or trojan is a program that presents itself as one thing (anti-virus or a game) butactually works in the background to gain unauthorized access to information in a computer.
A trojan virus can steal all sorts of information on your computer such as credit card information, passwords, bank information and then sends the information to the virus creators who can use this information for malicious gains and identity theft.
When you are infected with a trojan infection you will also notice a substantial difference in the speed of your computer and you may even experience several pop-ups related to adult content, casinos, etc.
Don’t click on any of those pop-ups as those will only make the infection harder to remove.
The trojan infection can spread from one PC to another very quickly from e-mails and attachments sent from the infected computer.
It can even corrupt data on a hard drive which will lead to system crashes and deletions of computer files.
Trojan Win32
One of the most dangerous of all trojans is the Trojan.Win32, which is also referred to as the Win32 Trojan. This dangerous infection masquerades on your computer asa legal program, hides from the user and allows remote third parties to take partial or full control of your computer and can record keystrokes.
It can also alter the security settings of your computer to allow more malware to be delivered and installed onto the computer.
How Does it Get Into My Computer?
We have clients ask all the time, “How did my computer get infected?” Most times these infections come from freeware applications that they downloaded, free online games that were downloaded, anti-virus not being updated, firewall settings, computer security settings set too lenient, or from not performing regular updates on the operating system.
The trojan infection wraps itself inside legitimate software such as games, videos, virus and spyware programs, or any commonly downloaded file. In the end, the user ends up with a malicious piece of software that does something entirely different than what it was supposed to do.
Now that you have a general idea of what a trojan is and the most common ways that they get into your computer, what do you do if you are infected?
The first thing that you should do once you notice the infection is to shut down the computer and do not use it for anything.
If you have never dealt with virus removals before then you’ll probably want to work with a professional IT company to do the virus removal, since if not done correctly, the removal process can cause more damage than the trojan.
If you do need to get on the computer to pull some files off, disconnect it from the Internet. That way, no personal information can be sent out from thecomputer such as your credit card or banking information.
Then, you’ll want to work with your IT provider to have a virus clean-up done on the computer. The goal is to get you back online and using your computer safely.
At Technology Experts, we work with clients on virus infections on a day to day basis. Our technicians have several tools and processes to remove virus infections without damaging your system or data.
Online Banking: Five Steps To Protect Yourself
Ryan Seymour is a PC hardware specialist and the Tech Experts Service Manager. |
I was reading the Wall Street Journal website recently, and came across an interesting article about online bank fraud. The article was about a a small business owner in California had over $100,000 stolen from his bank account.
He only recovered about $50,000 of it back. The other $50,000 went to a bank in Europe, where mules (someone who receives the stolen money) started to withdraw the money from the bank account.
How did this happen? The business owner had spyware on his computer that transferred his banking username and password to the hackers. I always shake my head when I read an article like this, because I know it could have been easily avoided.
Anti-virus and anti-spyware
The first step in protecting yourself is to make sure your computer has anti-virus and anti-spyware installed.
If you’re doing online banking, make sure that you’re using commercial quality protection - not something you download from the Internet for free.
The stronger your first layer of protection, the safer you are online.
We see computers every day that don’t have this simplest of protection installed; or, worse, the business owner has installed protection software, but then fails to keep it updated or renewed.
Unified threat management
The next step is to invest in a unified threat management (UTM) firewall. A UTM firewall is miles ahead of the simple DSL or cable routers you’d pick up at the office supply store.
They offer solid protection against viruses, hackers, spyware, and the host of other Internet dangers.
The device scans all Internet traffic in real time, and can protect you even before the anti-virus and antispyware vendors have updated their software for new attacks.
UTM firewalls can also implement web filtering and prevent the computer from reaching the intended attacker.
Web filtering can block access to websites that contain malware and spyware; it can also protect employees from going places they shouldn’t be.
Fortinet is our preferred vendor that makes firewall appliances that do what I describe above. A dedicated firewall and UTM appliance is very effective in helping prevent an attack such as this.
Block SPAM at the source
One of the sneakiest ways hackers can compromise your computer is through email, so you’ll want to look for a rock-solid spam filtering solution. Numerous cloud based (hosted) solutions exist that are very inexpensive. A good spam filter will keep viruses, phishing and other attacks from hitting your email. Reflexion is our favorite cloud based email filtering solution. The product is easy to use, well supported and extremely effective.
With online banking, phishing attacks are very common. Someone creates an email that looks like your bank in an attempt to collect information, you click on the link, and next thing you know, the hackers have your login and password.
Personally, I never open emails from my bank. Most banks will not contact you for important account information with email.
Perform regular maintenance
The fourth step to keeping your computers safe is patch management. Microsoft releases security updates for Windows nearly very week. Having a trained IT professional ensure patches are applied correctly - and quickly - will protect you from any security holes in the software that you’re running.
Most small businesses should look at one of our managed service plans, which provides you with “whatever it takes” service at a low fixed monthly cost.
Pay attention
The final step is a matter of common sense. Most people will go to potentially hazardous websites or click on something they shouldn’t have. My suggestion is if you are doing Internet banking, it should be on a computer that is used the least.
If you are going to go to questionable websites, don’t do it on the computer where you do your banking.
FBI: Rogue Antivirus Scammers Have Made $150M
They’re the scourge of the Internet right now and the U.S. Federal Bureau of investigation says they’ve also raked in more than $150 million for scammers. Security experts call them rogue antivirus programs.
The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center (ICC) issued a warning over fake antivirus software, saying that Web surfers should be wary of sudden pop-up windows that report security problems on their computers.
This software can appear almost anywhere on the Web. Typically, the scam starts with an aggressive pop-up ad that looks like some sort of virus scan. Of course, the scan turns up problems, and the pop-up says the only way to get rid of them is to pay with a credit card.
This is always a bad idea. At best, the software is subpar. At worst, it could result in viruses, Trojans and/or keyloggers being installed on the computer. Identity thieves often use keyloggers to gain access to credit
card numbers, bank account information, and computer users’ social security numbers.
The tactics of the scareware have caused significant losses to users. The FBI is aware of an estimated loss to victims in excess of $150 million.
The IC3 says that users who see these unexpected antivirus pop-up warnings should shut down their browsers or their computers immediately and then run an antivirus scan to see what’s going on.
Legit Or Bogus? How To Spot A Rogue Anti-Virus Program
| Corey Bogedain is a network technician and web developer with Tech Experts. |
Have you seen an advertisement or pop-up offering a free PC scan, or telling you that your computer is infected and at risk? If so, you’ve seen first hand a harmful trojan disguised as an anti-virus program.
These types of rogue anti-virus scams are on the rise. They appear legitimate, and the number one way unsuspecting users get infected is from clicking a malicious link in the pop-up message. Most of these pop-ups have what sound like legitimate virus names, and some even ask you to pay for the program.
They will almost always have a notice indicating you need to “click here” to install the program to disinfect your PC. Once you click on that link, you’re infected.
To take it a step further, if you actually do enter your credit card information, the hackers have your personal data and can use it at will.
I have anti-virus. Won’t that protect me?
Though the best anti-virus programs will protect you from many threats they can not protect you against all malware, especially the newer infections.
There are millions of different types of infections and hundreds created every day. Even top of the line security companies take days and even weeks to catch the infections.
What can a rogue anti-virus program do?
An infection can do almost anything to a computer, from stealing information to destroying your valuable data. Some malware will log your password information and use it to try to infect other computers on your network.
Some infections will let your computer be used as a “bot,” which lets attackers use it to share illegal files, attack other systems on the Internet, or spread infections to your friends and family.
How do I protect myself?
Here are some basic tips to keep yourself from being a victim of a rogue anti-virus program.
1. Keep your computer updated with the latest security patches for your operating system and web browser.
2. Never click on a pop-ups that you come across on a website. Even if the advertisement looks legitimate, chances are it isn’t.
3. Check to make sure your Internet firewall and antivirus are updated every time you use your computer.
4. Turn off any Active-X and scripting from foreign websites. Many of the infections come from these types of scripts. Almost always, your system will ask you if you want to run the script. Always pick “no.”
5. Keep a good backup. Some infections can be so severe that you will need to restore files for your PC to be disinfected and repaired properly.
6. Scan your computer on a regular basis. Most antivirus programs will do this automatically. AVG is a very good program that will scan every day, and can be set to run at night so it doesn’t slow down your work.
Choosing The Right Antivirus Software
| Corey Bogedain is a network technician and web developer with Tech Experts. |
Protecting your computer from spyware, viruses, pop ups and malware is one of the most important things you can do as a computer owner. Not being protected can lead to stolen information or just plain harm to the computer.
Some infections can sit in the background and wait until the right time to deploy. By having a good antivirus program you can protect your computer at all times. Here are some tips to help you choose the right antivirus software for your system.
Costs
When looking for the right antivirus software do not forget to compare pricing. Most antivirus software is fairly priced. Some well known antivirus software can be very pricy due to the well known name that the company has. One of the more affordable antivirus programs that I know is low priced, but has great quality. It’s called Etrust, and it’s made by Computer Associates (CA).
Automatic Updates
You can pay all the money in the world for a good antivirus program, but if the antivirus signatures do not update automatically then it is not worth it. Almost every computer user does not even pay attention if the antivirus is on or not - most just assume it is taking care of business. By having an antivirus that automatically updates it can help keep the antivirus software up to date and protect you from the newest threats.
Frequency of Signature Updates
An important part of the software is how often the software actually updates. They say that a new virus is created every four minutes. So good antivirus software sends out multiple updates every day to make sure the virus signatures are up to date on the most recent threats.
Active Scanning
Active scanning is another feature that is very good to have. Some antivirus programs only protect the computer fi les as they’re being used or access, and not all the fi les on the system. You want protection that is active all of the time, and scans files and programs as you access them.
By having it scan it will look through all fi les on the computer to make sure there are no sleeping threats on the system. Many infections will just keep coming back so having the computer scan every day helps protect from those types of infections.
Performance
When looking at antivirus software, you have to ask yourself: “Will it slow down my computer?”
If the software takes a lot of space and resources, you may fi nd it will slow down your system when it’s working. If you sit down and think of these topics before you rush into buying new antivirus software, I am sure you will get great software for your money.
Also there are many websites that will compare antivirus programs if you are worried about the safety of your computer.
If you have any questions or concerns about the best antivirus for you, please feel free to give us a call here at Tech Experts at (734) 457-5000.