Anti-Virus and Spyware Information Part One

All Internet users should be aware of the online scam known as "phishing" (pronounced "fishing"). Phishing involves the use of E-mail messages that appear to come from your bank or another trusted business such as eBay or PayPal, but are actually from imposters.

Phishing E-mails typically ask you to click a link to visit a Web site, where you are asked to enter or confirm personal financial information such as your account numbers, passwords, Social Security number or other data. Although these Web sites may appear legitimate, they are not. Thieves can collect whatever data you enter and use it to access your personal accounts.

Other sites appear non-functional or temporarily out of service, or request that you install a plug-in to view it correctly. This may be deceiving in that when you do so, the site may download a virus and/or other ill-intended software to your computer.

How can I spot a phishing scam?
Look for these warning signs:

1) Language and tone.
The message you receive may urge you to act quickly by suggesting that your account is threatened or will expire soon. It may say that if you fail to update, verify or confirm your personal or account information, access to your accounts will be suspended. The wording may also be sloppy and contain misspellings and or grammatical errors. Phrasing may seem awkward or foreign.

2) Requests for personal information.
Scam E-mails typically ask for personal or account information such as:
Account numbers and passwords
Credit and check card numbers
Social Security numbers
Online banking user IDs and passwords
Mother's maiden name
Date of birth
Other confidential information

3) E-mailed instructions to download software.
Many imposters claim to be from places such as Microsoft Update, Your local bank's security department, an online Virus Protection service, etc. Do not install software downloads directly from E-mail messages, or from companies or Web Sites you do not know and trust. When in doubt, contact the company directly by phone or by typing the known, valid address into your web browser manually.

4) Non-secure Web pages.
Clever thieves can build a fake website that often looks identical to the authentic one. They can even alter the URL (the Web address) that appears in your web browser window address field on the top. Watch out for non-secure Web pages that ask for sensitive information (secure sites will typically display a lock in the status bar at the bottom of your browser window). Once again, remember that the best way to be sure that you are not being re-directed to a spoofed website is to type the address in the browser URL box yourself!