Death of bin Laden causes spike in malware
Just Sunday night I was thinking, "Gee, wouldn't it be great if I could generate traffic to my website by using Osama bin Laden's (ObL's) name?" I try hard not to use tricks to get people to come here and read my stuff, so I immediately dismissed the idea.
Then, this happens, and it is no longer a stretch to use his name.
Great. (<- caution, extreme sarcasm here)
Basically, what that article says is that the bad guys out there are using our desire for information about the death of that "human malware" against us to infect our computers. Amazing! These guys (the bad guys) are smart and continue to find ways of using our nature against us. (They really aren't a whole lot different than ObL was.)
According to Sophos, a malware tracking and Internet security firm (and reported in the linked article above by Suzanne Choney), the best ways to avoid falling into their traps are to:
BACK TO MY BLOG NOW
In other words, don't just capriciously follow a link you see in an email or from a social site, EVEN IF IT APPEARS TO COME FROM A FRIEND OR OTHER RELIABLE SOURCE!
Instead of clicking a link, search for information using Google or another reliable search engine. Even then, before you click a link in an article, place your mouse (or trackpad) pointer on the link in the article and look at the address showing in your browser's status bar (usually at the bottom of the browser's window). If that address has a reliable source name IMMEDIATELY before the ".com", ".org", or whatever generic, top-level domain name (more in a second on what that is) is used, you might be safe to click the link. MIGHT be safe.
Use caution here, people, or it could cost you big time. The bad guys want your money and your identity. If the link's address doesn't make sense to you, DON'T CLICK IT!
Keeping in mind that my blog is aimed at the common computer user who doesn't really understand the jargon, I give the following information:
WHAT IS A BROWSER?
"So, Sid", you query, "What is a 'Browser'?"
I'm glad you ask!
A browser is any program you use to surf the 'Net. Examples are:
WHAT IS A "GENERIC, TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME"?
That term refers to the letters following and including the last "." (dot) before the third "/" (forward slash) in a web address. For example, in the address
"http://blog.plaitsolutions.com/",
the generic, top-level domain name is ".com".
In the address
"/bcCreatePost.aspx?id=3721114"
it is also ".com".
In the address
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser",
it is ".org"
WHAT IS A RELIABLE SOURCE NAME?
It is the domain name immediately before the generic, top-level domain name.
For example, in the address
"http://blog.plaitsolutions.com/",
it is "plaitsolutions".
In the address
"/bcCreatePost.aspx?id=3721114"
it is "quickblogcast".
In the address
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser",
it is "wikipedia".
HOWEVER, in the address
"http://www.wikipedia.fredastaire.com"
it is "fredastaire", and you probable wouldn't go to a site called "fredastaire" to get information on bin Laden.
Just use the information above along with critical thinking before you click on anything that takes you somewhere in the web .
Always.
It's so much easier to take a moment and analyze the link you so desperately want to click rather than to take the next three years of your life fighting identity theft!
Then, this happens, and it is no longer a stretch to use his name.
Great. (<- caution, extreme sarcasm here)
Basically, what that article says is that the bad guys out there are using our desire for information about the death of that "human malware" against us to infect our computers. Amazing! These guys (the bad guys) are smart and continue to find ways of using our nature against us. (They really aren't a whole lot different than ObL was.)
According to Sophos, a malware tracking and Internet security firm (and reported in the linked article above by Suzanne Choney), the best ways to avoid falling into their traps are to:
- Watch out for the links you're likely to come across in email or on social networking sites offering you additional coverage of this newsworthy event.
- Many of the links you see will be perfectly legitimate links. But at least some are almost certain to be dodgy links, deliberately distributed to trick you into hostile internet territory.
- If in doubt, leave it out! (Just don't click the link!)
- Sometimes, poisoned content is rather obvious. The links in this spam captured by SophosLabs, for example, give the impression of going to a news site:
BACK TO MY BLOG NOW
In other words, don't just capriciously follow a link you see in an email or from a social site, EVEN IF IT APPEARS TO COME FROM A FRIEND OR OTHER RELIABLE SOURCE!
Instead of clicking a link, search for information using Google or another reliable search engine. Even then, before you click a link in an article, place your mouse (or trackpad) pointer on the link in the article and look at the address showing in your browser's status bar (usually at the bottom of the browser's window). If that address has a reliable source name IMMEDIATELY before the ".com", ".org", or whatever generic, top-level domain name (more in a second on what that is) is used, you might be safe to click the link. MIGHT be safe.
Use caution here, people, or it could cost you big time. The bad guys want your money and your identity. If the link's address doesn't make sense to you, DON'T CLICK IT!
Keeping in mind that my blog is aimed at the common computer user who doesn't really understand the jargon, I give the following information:
WHAT IS A BROWSER?
"So, Sid", you query, "What is a 'Browser'?"
I'm glad you ask!
A browser is any program you use to surf the 'Net. Examples are:
- Internet Explorer
- AOL (but only by using AOL's icon, not if you use another browser to go to AOL's website)
- Safari
- Mozilla FireFox
- Google Chrome
- Netscape (if your computer is really old!)
- Opera
WHAT IS A "GENERIC, TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME"?
That term refers to the letters following and including the last "." (dot) before the third "/" (forward slash) in a web address. For example, in the address
"http://blog.plaitsolutions.com/",
the generic, top-level domain name is ".com".
In the address
"/bcCreatePost.aspx?id=3721114"
it is also ".com".
In the address
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser",
it is ".org"
WHAT IS A RELIABLE SOURCE NAME?
It is the domain name immediately before the generic, top-level domain name.
For example, in the address
"http://blog.plaitsolutions.com/",
it is "plaitsolutions".
In the address
"/bcCreatePost.aspx?id=3721114"
it is "quickblogcast".
In the address
"http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_browser",
it is "wikipedia".
HOWEVER, in the address
"http://www.wikipedia.fredastaire.com"
it is "fredastaire", and you probable wouldn't go to a site called "fredastaire" to get information on bin Laden.
Just use the information above along with critical thinking before you click on anything that takes you somewhere in the web .
Always.
It's so much easier to take a moment and analyze the link you so desperately want to click rather than to take the next three years of your life fighting identity theft!
Posted by Sid Plait at 5/3/2011 5:22 AM 
Categories: Windows 7, Cybercriminals, Malware, Windows Vista, All, Internet, PC Security, Computers, Critical thinking, Identity Theft, Networking, Technology, Bad News!, Social Media, Windows XP
Tags: Osama bin Laden OBL Internet Explorer AOL Safari Firefox Mozilla Google Chrome Netscape Opera terrorism Sophos Suzanne Choney
Categories: Windows 7, Cybercriminals, Malware, Windows Vista, All, Internet, PC Security, Computers, Critical thinking, Identity Theft, Networking, Technology, Bad News!, Social Media, Windows XP
Tags: Osama bin Laden OBL Internet Explorer AOL Safari Firefox Mozilla Google Chrome Netscape Opera terrorism Sophos Suzanne Choney
To my reader(s) -
I made a mistake in the second example of both the WHAT IS A "TOP-LEVEL DOMAIN NAME"? and the WHAT IS A "RELIABLE SOURCE NAME"? sections. They have been corrected on the blog site, but for each, the correct address is
"http://app.quickblogcast.com/bcCreatePost.aspx?id=3721114"
I apologize for the errors.
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