AVG (AU/NZ) offers advice to parents for online safety awareness

MELBOURNE, 6 December 2011 —AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd apologises to Australia’s parents for bringing to their attention that the long summer school holidays are within sight. But the holidays mean your children will soon be spending vast amounts of time tracking their friends on Facebook and trawling the Internet for entertainment. So it’s timely to remind parents to update their online safety awareness.

The cyber world that children inhabit continues to shift and evolve. The sites children are using today won’t be the ones they’re addicted to next week. AVG (AU/NZ) offers advice to help parents keep their children safe while enjoying their online holiday time.

Michael McKinnon, Security Advisor at AVG (AU/NZ), said: “Learn, protect, report – these headings don’t make for an interesting acronym but will encourage parents to be vigilant of their family’s online activities.”

Learn

Take an interest in the online safety instruction your child is receiving at school and reinforce those messages. You can’t always be watching over them so education as to the risks and self-awareness ideas for protection are vital.

Cybersmart is part of the Australian Government’s cybersafety program and provides activities, resources and practical advice to help kids, teens and parents safely enjoy the online world. It includes a page for parents with the latest ‘Tagged’ updates on subjects such as how to encourage young people to reflect on the real life consequences caused by cyber bullying, sexting.

ThinkUKnow is an Internet safety program delivering interactive training to parents, carers and teachers. Created by the UK Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre, ThinkUKnow Australia has been developed by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Microsoft Australia. Users will need to subscribe to the site to gain access to its tools and resources.

Stay Smart Online is a one stop shop providing information for Australian Internet users on the simple steps they can take to protect their personal and financial information online. The site has informative videos, quizzes and a free Alert Service that provides information on the latest threats and vulnerabilities.

Protect

The Internet is a place where kids will eventually learn how to responsibly connect with others, but it’s also a place to explore and learn. The problem with today’s most popular search engines is they can surprise the user with shocking images and other content that are unexpectedly associated with the search string.

Popular search engines such as Google, Bing and Yahoo provide easily configurable options that allow the blocking of most explicit images and results from appearing, or alternatively there are services like Kids.Net.Au providing kids with their own safe search experience.

Ensuring the home computer is protected with an Internet Security solution that includes link scanning technology, such as the AVG LinkScanner is another important tool to consider. When trouble is just a click away, AVG helps parents protect their kids by ensuring their Internet experiences are positive ones.

Before you turn on the TV or take your kids to the movies, the US site Common Sense Media helps parents determine what movies, games, websites, music and more might be the most appropriate for their impressionable young ones before they’re already exposed. The site also posts helpful suggestions for parents struggling with how much TV is too much TV and similar family issues.

Report

Always report any cyber bullying to your child’s school or the police. Never ignore it.

If you have found any material online that you believe is prohibited or inappropriate you can contact the Australian Communications and Media Authority. This site also has a range of online safety resources for parents and caregivers.

The Government’s SCAMwatch site provides a reporting facility to assist with the policing of cyber crime and alerting others to fraudulent Internet activity.

You and your children need to be alert to the potential dangers when enjoying the Internet and know what to do should anything untoward happen. That way your family can continue to benefit from the world of information and opportunity as safely as is possible.

Keep in touch with AVG (AU/NZ)

·         For breaking news, follow AVG (AU/NZ) on Twitter at twitter.com/avgaunz

·         Join our Facebook community at www.facebook.com/avgaunz

·         For security trends, analysis, follow the AVG (AU/NZ) blog at resources.avg.com.au

Here at Computer Troubleshooters The Gap, we strive to keep the customers informed with the latest information that has been presented to us. We try to keep your computing experience as trouble-free as possible. However, if you do run into trouble with your computer we are more than happy to troubleshooter problems.
With this in mind, this month we are having a look at some of those scams and hoaxes that appear from time to time and never get reported. We feel by doing our part in communicating to you the scams and hoaxes that may in someway help to fight these annoying, and often expensive problems.

If you receive an email message that sounds credible, do you check it out before you action it or forward it to your friends? Not everything you read is true, so let’s look at some common hoaxes and scams.
‘Send us your money’ scams, purely designed to get money from you:
Domain name scams –Watch for a renewal invoice asking you to pay for the continued registration of your internet ‘domain name’ (e.g. mybusinessname.com), except it’s not from the company that your domain name is registered with. Also, watch for a warning that someone else wants to register a domain name that resembles yours, and advises you to register these names yourself first.
Business advertising invoices – These invoices are sent to small businesses for advertising that was never purchased and, in some cases, doesn’t even exist.
Free iPhone or iPad – These state that you can get a free iPhone or iPad by completing a survey and giving out your cell phone number or by completing a number of ‘offers’. Read the fine print, as you may be signing up to a premium monthly service that will appear on your mobile bill. The offers are ‘affiliate links’ which earn the site owner a commission every time you complete one.
Surprise lottery win or inheritance – You’ve won a lottery you never entered, usually in a foreign country, or a long-lost relative has died and left you a lot of money. Either way, you need to send them money as a processing fee to release the funds.
Stranger needing money – The sender may try to build up a rapport with your first, before telling you a sad story about why they need money.
‘Forward this message’ scams are designed to generate large volumes of messages, which may actually crash some email systems. They rely on your good nature to warn your friends, or a special offer for tracking your email forwarding, which is not technically possible.
Free giveaways or cash donations – These scams promise that you will receive things for free if 1,000 people receive a copy of the email. The giveaways included cash, theme park tickets, computers, cars, phones and gift certificates for brand name clothing. A variation on this promises a ’10 cent donation’ to a sick child for every email sent.
Misinformation – Many warnings that circulate via email and social media are untrue. These include cell phone numbers being made available to telemarketers, alerts about fake computer viruses and warnings about changes to sites like Facebook.
Protect your own credibility and research any information before passing it on to your friends. Call Computer Troubleshooter The Gap if you’re unsure about anything that you have received or for any of your technology needs

1. Add Identification

If you found someone’s tablet or phone, you’d look for any identification that told you whose it was, so you could return it. Just as parents label their children’s clothing, add some form of identification to your device. This could consist of a business card in your tablet case, a power-on message with your contact phone number or even engraving your phone number or business name on the device.

2. Password Protect

3. Sync

4. Backup

5. Add Remote Control & Tracking

Why do the creators of this Malware do it?
They want your personal information. They want to stalk and track your behavior. They want to steal your identity. They want your passwords. They want access to your bank account and credit card details. In short they want your money.
Where do they come from and how do they get onto your machine?
The threats are all around. Commonly from email attachments, hiding in downloads as part of the install. Sometimes links to websites can contain downloads you are not aware of, selecting them can start a download you won’t know is happening. Some Malware spreads across networks and hides in USB drives, moving from machine to machine as it is plugged in.
Malware used to be concentrated to more easily recognized areas, get rich quick scams, you are our 10,000th visitor go here to claim your iPad or Xbox, Click here to enter our competition to win an iPod. Torrent file sharing websites, cracking/hacking websites, pornography, music download sites the list goes on.
However the reach of these hackers has expanded to infecting legitimate sites. If a hacker can get there link or file onto popular websites for just a few minutes, they can potentially infect millions of unsuspecting users. Users are infected whilst visiting social networking sites, car sales sites, government sites, auction sites. Don’t take any site for granted.
How do Computer Troubleshooters protect you?
We use and have access to the best antivirus products available such as AVG Internet Security, ESET NOD32, SuperAntiSpyware professional, Viper Antivirus and more. These products are regularly updated and offer cutting edge protection against infection.
You have become infected even with protection, why?
Estimates predict there are some 30,000 new threats detected every day, that’s 1250 per hour. If your antivirus software is 4 hours out of date that leaves you open to a potential 5000 threats your software doesn’t yet look for. Many threats circumvent firewalls and protection by being initiated by the user. The user who plays the latest joke video or downloads the latest music track has requested the download.
Antivirus software is your SECOND line of defence, user behavior is your FIRST.
So what can you do?
• If it’s too go to be true it probably is. Don’t believe everything you read.
• Only read or open emails and attachments from trusted sources. If you are unsure about the email delete it immediately. If the message is legitimate the sender will most likely contact you another way to find out if you have read it.
• Don’t open ANY spam emails, delete them immediately.
• Trusted sources will never ask you to confirm your details or change passwords. If you need to change your password or details, follow the route you would normally. Initiate from the beginning the way you log into the trusted site.
• Don’t install and use add on toolbars to your web browser ( Internet Explorer or Firefox etc). They could potentially compromise your online security. Toolbars such as NineMSN, Ebay, Yahoo, Google, ASK, Skype etc.

What can you do if you get a suspicious pop up?
Always shut down the pop up by selecting the “X” in the corner, only this option is in your control, any other buttons such as “Cancel” or “Quit” will most likely activate and install the Malware.

If you find there is no “X”, make sure the message is the active window and using the keyboard press the following keys. Press and hold the Alt key then press the F4 key, this will quit any active window. It will also shut down your PC if you keep pressing Alt and F4, so take your time.

If you think you have been infected call us on 07 3300 0555. At no charge we will give you our honest opinion on what we believe is the best course of action. Under no circumstances enter any personal information, or credit card details.

Thank you to Computer Troubleshooters Hallett Cove for the article.

Your backup strategy: Without your own I.T. department, you need to make sure that your important files are backed up and that they can be restored from those backups.  A USB hard drive will provide a great second storage location in addition to your computer, which can be accessed fast to retrieve accidentally-deleted files. In case of fire, flood or theft at your place, duplicate your information at another location (e.g. the home or business of someone else you know well) or use an internet-based backup service.  Invest in backup software that runs seamlessly and can be easily checked and tested.

Security: If you are the only person who uses the computer in your home office, don’t think that it doesn’t need a password.  Passwords are an important part of your defense against hacking attempts, as well as helping to secure your information if your computer is stolen.  Also consider the physical security of your home office and perhaps use window locks, security screens and a burglar alarm.  If your home office can be seen from the street, use window blinds or curtains, especially if working at night as your computers can easily be seen from the outside when your lights are on.

Ongoing maintenance: Without an in-house expert to keep your computers running, their performance will slowly degrade and their security will be at risk if they are not maintained. It’s important to ensure that software updates are installing correctly when they are released and that tasks like temporary file removal, defragmentation and virus scans are all occurring regularly. Talk to your Computer Troubleshooter about how they can easily take care of this for you.

Comfort: You may not have a big corporate budget for desks, but if you spend a long time at your computer it’s important that you reduce your risk of overuse injuries.  Look at an ergonomic, adjustable chair, a foot rest and a comfortable mouse and have your desk, keyboard and monitor all at the correct height.  Also consider the placement of your desk in your office, to reduce any screen glare from your windows.

The separation of home and business: Most home offices are also the place where the household bills are paid and are sometimes where the kids play computer games or do their homework. If your work computer is also your home computer, separate user ‘profiles’ can be handy to restrict your children’s access to your business files (e.g. to prevent accidental deletion).  You might also consider extra security software or internet filtering software to prevent your children from introducing nasty malware onto your computer.  Use a separate paper filing tray for the ‘paperwork of life’ to keep it away from your business documents. And a second telephone line or a Voice over IP number is a great way to stop business calls from coming through on your home phone. Then you can also switch on the phone answering system after-hours to enjoy some undisturbed family time.

If you are thinking of starting a business from home, or moving back home, or if you’d just like some advice on your current home office setup, talk to your local Computer Troubleshooter.

The computer:

We’ll ignore comparing brands and the Apple versus PC debate, but let’s look at ‘workstation versus laptop’.  If your computer really doesn’t need to move from your home office, you’ll get more computing power for your money with a workstation. Consider investing those savings in a dual-monitor setup if your work involves a lot of data entry, writing or graphic design. But remember, there’s nothing stopping you using a laptop if you want to sit outside in the sun occasionally!

The printer:

As with any office, the key consideration for a printer is how much do you print and how often, and is that printing primarily text or pictures? Home offices also may have to consider how much space they have, so a printer with a smaller ‘footprint’ would be better. It’s also handy to have the ability to send faxes, especially when dealing with signed documents, so either look at software for faxing and a document scanner, or consider a multi-function printer with a built in fax.  If you occasionally need to print large volumes, it may be cheaper to use a printing service at a store for large volumes, instead of buying a fast, high-volume laser printer that hardly ever prints more than 5 pages at a time.  Remember to also compare replacement ink costs before you commit to a printer purchase.

The Internet:

A home office can feel quite isolated, so your internet connection is an important gateway to the outside world.  Out of all of your technology components, this one will drive you the craziest if it’s slow or if it drops out.  Use a reputable internet provider and invest in the fastest internet speed you can afford with a monthly data limit that matches your needs.

Email:

Without a corporate email system, you still have a few choices for email services.  Don’t think that you have to resort to using @hotmail.com or @gmail.com for your business email communication, when you can have @yourbusinessname.com without the expense of your own email server.

File sharing:

Do you need to share files with anyone outside of your home office? Instead of just emailing attachments, consider other file sharing methods if you collaborate with others on large documents or if you regularly need to send large picture files.  Your options vary from USB storage with security mechanisms (e.g. encryption & passwords) to secure internet file sharing services or even direct file transfer between computers.

Next month, we’ll look at backups, security and other considerations for your home office.  If you are thinking of starting a business from home, or moving back home, or if you’d just like some advice on your current home office setup, talk to your local Computer Troubleshooter.

When your computer connects to the internet, it is given a unique ‘IP address’.  It’s like being given a room number when you check in to a hotel.  Some computers (e.g., email servers) get to keep the same room number all the time so people know where to find them, but your computer might actually get a different room number each time you connect.  Your room number will look something like ‘216.27.61.137’.

The problem is that computers talk in binary (ones and zeros), so in binary your address looks like 11011000.00011011.00111101.10001001.  With a finite number of ones and zeros in this 8 character.8 character.8 character.8 character number, that’s a total of 4.3 billion unique addresses. But now that’s not enough and some of those addresses are reserved for internal company networks and other reasons, which make the usable number even smaller.  The world now has too many computers that want to be on the internet and we’re running out of hotel rooms.

If we did nothing about it, we would literally not be able to connect any new computers to the internet.

But the internet boffins have been aware of this problem for some time and in Dec 1998 they launched a new standard for hotel room numbers (called IP v6).  This new address would look like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334 and would allow for 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456 unique addresses!!  If you want to read that out loud, it’s 340 undecillion, 282 decillion, 366 nonillion, 920 octillion, 938 septillion, 463 sextillion, 463 quintillion, 374 quadrillion, 607 trillion, 431 billion, 768 million, 211 thousand, four hundred and fifty six.

The challenge is that the old address and the new addresses can’t natively talk to each other. If your computer can handle a new IP v6 address (Windows XP Service Pack 2 or newer software like Windows 7), it won’t be able to talk to anything on the internet that’s still using the old IP v4 address. And because the internet is literally a collection of other people’s computers, we can’t just pick a date and change every computer over at the same time.

The whole situation then is kind of similar to the Year 2000, ‘Y2K’ bug.  The good news is that the internet boffins know about this problem too, so they are working on transition mechanisms to allow the old and the new to talk nicely to one another.  There has been no sense of urgency until now to do anything about it, as it’s going to cost them time and money to fix, but it’s not going to make anyone any money.

If you have any questions or concerns about the Internet or any technology need, talk to your local Computer Troubleshooter.

Coreflood has actually been around since 2002. Known as a ‘botnet’ it works by infecting your computer through a file that you open or a link that you click on, which is disguised as something you might want to read.  In the background, the software embeds itself into your computer and starts communicating back to the control server, doing whatever it is told to.  These commands could range from the annoying (changing your wallpaper, opening your CD tray, randomly playing sounds or shutting down your PC) through to the dangerous (recording your keyboard strokes & sending your personal information back to the command servers).

With an estimated 2.3 million infected computers, a command to uninstall itself would be a very effective way of eradicating Coreflood. However, the FBI has to watch its step and is working with the US Department of Justice to ensure it doesn’t violate the USA’s privacy protection laws.  It is currently seeking ‘request and authorization to delete’ from government agencies and corporations and may issue ‘notice of infected computer’ alerts through internet providers to home users.

In the meantime, Microsoft has added a further update to its Malicious Software Removal Tool to tackle the latest instances of Coreflood and this will be released to Windows computers with Microsoft’s next batch of security updates.  Most anti-virus software manufacturers will now also detect Coreflood on an infected computer.

While it’s interesting to see the FBI taking this approach to clean millions of computers, it once again highlights the need for computer owners to be vigilant about security measures.  It’s easy to forget about older, rarely used computers and if their software isn’t kept up to date, they can easily be targeted by botnet infections.  Your security strategy needs to include regular updates to your operating system software and your security software, as well as checking that your security software is functioning correctly and performing regular scans.  You also need to practice safe internet habits, such as being careful about suspicious-looking file attachments and not visiting dubious websites.

Coreflood is one of thousands of examples of botnet software currently in existence. Talk to your local Computer Troubleshooter about the best protection strategy for your computers or about any of your technology needs.

The latest iPad is thinner, lighter and faster than the original and now boasts a front camera in addition to the rear-facing camera. Other manufacturers can also be found in the small, touchscreen computer market, including Samsung, HP, Toshiba, Motorola, Dell, Lenovo and Sony. They predominately use either Google’s Android software or Microsoft’s Windows.

But is this technology just for nerds, high flying corporate executives and people addicted to the Angry Birds game?  If you’re thinking about a tablet computer, learn about its limitations and focus on what benefit it could add to your business.

With a tablet, you can read information on a screen much larger than your phone, without having the weight and start-up time of your laptop.  You can browse through documents, emails and websites, check your calendar or find telephone numbers or directions.  They can also handle small amounts of data entry easily, replacing your paper & pen at the meeting table.  However, they would never replace your ‘full-function’ computer completely as they are not suitable for long hours of data entry, printing can be problematic and not all of your preferred software titles will run on them.

So, let’s look at how tablets are being used in the small business market:

Real estate – A great website is a realtor’s dream, enabling them to showcase multiple images of many properties.  Add a good search function and you can narrow down your portfolio as you discuss the needs of the prospective buyer that’s in front of you. The tablet now gives you that website on the road, ready to hand to the prospective buyer for them to thumb through property images as you sip coffee between open home sessions.

Anyone in sales – As many small business sales meetings are conducted at coffee shops or at the buyer’s premises, see ‘Real estate’ above, but add the ability to showcase product presentations and customer testimonials during your meeting.

Competitions – If you are running a promotion where people have to enter their details to win, the tablet is a great device to have at fairs and trade shows. Let people enter their own details and save you the data entry. This works even better if your entry form is already on your website anyway.

Subscriptions & registrations – See ‘Competitions’ above, but think of newsletters, sports teams etc. In fact, this can apply to nearly anywhere that you need to get capture people’s information. Just make sure they’re not going to run off with your tablet!

As with any technology purchasing decision, you want to know that your investment is going to enhance and improve how you do business. Talk to your Computer Troubleshooter about your technology needs and whether a tablet is right for your business, or whether it’s just another gadget.