Follow on Google News News By Tag Industry News News By Location Country(s) Industry News
Follow on Google News | NERDS ON CALL: Are You Spreading MalwareTake Steps to Secure Your Accounts - Have you ever had this happen to you: Often you receive emails from people who haven't contacted you in years, with a subject line such as "check this out!"
By: Nerds On Call Computer Repair Sacramento When you get emails like this don't click on the links – they usually contain malware that will infect your computer. If the person sending the malware is you, here are some steps you can take to fix the problem, and hopefully assure that it doesn't happen again. First, determine where the message came from. Messages sent from your email or your Facebook account should show in your Sent Items folder, so check there first. If you see messages that you didn’t send in your Sent folder, you know that someone accessed your account and sent the message to people from your address book. Change your password immediately, and if you use the same password on any other accounts, change every potentially compromised site to a unique password. If you don’t see the spam message in among your sent items, it’s likely that the culprit “spoofed” the sender address to hide the actual sending account and make it look like the message originated from you. Unfortunately, there’s not much you can do to rectify someone impersonating you. Even if you manage to track down the IP address it was sent from and report it to the Internet Crime Complaint Center, they won’t be of much assistance. It’s important to determine if the message was sent to everyone in your address book, even if your account wasn’t actually used to send the messages. If so, then your account has been compromised and you need to take steps to immediately secure your account. In some extreme cases, like if your friends are getting repeatedly spammed from your account even after changing your password, it’s time to close that email account entirely and start fresh with a new address. There are a few ways your account can be compromised: Choose a strong password. There's a reason why most sites require more complicated passwords these days. "ABC123" If it’s too difficult to keep track of all your different passwords, use a password manager such as LastPass (https://lastpass.com/ Be vigilant when logging in from strange locations. Un-check the "keep me logged in" box unless you're logging in from your home computer. Make sure to log yourself completely out of your session when you're done checking your email - don't just close the browser window. Don't surf other websites while your email session is active. Beware of phishing scams. Don't give your username or password to anyone, regardless of how official they seem to be. Never click on a link from an email and log in to a site from the destination. Always navigate directly to the website using your web browser before entering your account login info. Beef up your security. Whenever possible, enable two-factor authentication and login notifications for your accounts so you’ll get an alert whenever your account is accessed from an unfamiliar location. Choose difficult-to- Stay virus free, anywhere you login. If you're not regularly scanning every machine you use to login to your email or social media for viruses and malware, you're doing yourself - and your friends who are getting spammed by your account - a disservice. Windows users should download Microsoft Security Essentials for free (http://microsoft- Andrea Eldridge is CEO and co-founder of Nerds On Call, an on-site computer and laptop repair service (http://www.callnerds.com/) About Nerds On Call Established in a spare room in Redding, Calif., in March 2004, Nerds On Call offers on-site computer and laptop repair services (http://www.callnerds.com/) End
Account Email Address Account Phone Number Disclaimer Report Abuse
|
|