Most everyone knows not to open executables (e.g., .exe, .bat, etc.) and documents (e.g., .doc, .xls, .ppt, .html, etc.) received via email when they’re not expected. However, did you know that Adobe Acrobat documents (.pdf) fall into the same category?? It’s quite straightforward for an attacker to invisibly modify a pdf document in [...]
If you’re a Windows user, did you ever wonder what the periodic appearance of a yellow shield on your task bar means? When you have Windows Automatic Update enabled (and you definitely should!), your PC will regularly check with Microsoft to see if any new software fixes or patches are available to download and install.
Generally, [...]
According to security experts and anti-virus software vendor F-Secure, a new malware attack is currently being spread via Facebook pages. The attacks are propagated by a malicious worm which steals victims Facebook information. Users receive a message from infected friends with links to a YouTube video. If Windows users click on the link [...]
On a regular basis, the Swarthmore community receives emails from malicious individuals requesting their passwords and sometimes other personally sensitive information.
These emails are often cleverly disguised to look like they originated from an official source such as ITS. These attacks on the community are known as “phishing”.
{For more info, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing}
Unfortunately, when community members [...]
The College’s mail servers receive approximately 4 million messages a month. of which, roughly 60% are spam. It’s quite clear why scanning inbound messages for spam and viruses is desirable. These message are stopped by our scanning service and are never delivered to our servers. That’s why you need to log in [...]
DO NOT open any email claiming to be a Security Update from Microsoft. Email users in the Swarthmore community are reporting that email pretending to be from microsoft.com is currently in circulation. The subject of the email claims that it contains information about an important security update. Below is one example of the subject line [...]
Late last week, Apple released some security fixes for its QuickTime application so users (any platform) should update to the latest version (7.4.5) as soon as they can. This latest update fixes eleven assorted security vulnerabilities. Users who have QuickTime configured to check for updates automatically just need to enable the installation. [...]
McAfee SiteAdvisor is now bundled with Swarthmore McAfee Anti-Virus/Anti-Spyware Version 8.5 for Windows PCs. You’ll know that SiteAdvisor is running on your PC if you notice an icon like the following on your Internet Explorer (shown) and/or Firefox browser:
SiteAdvisor visually indicates whether a web site you’re visiting has been determined to be safe or [...]
Malware writers are hoping that you’ll open that Valentine’s Day card they sent you. Unfortunately, in addition to a greeting, the seemingly innocent “card” will be downloading malicious software to your PC. Once downloaded, your PC will become a bot, or drone, and will then join a “botnet“.
The good news is that these [...]
Whether you’re a Windows or Mac user, major software vendors have released multiple patches in the past several days to close existing security holes within your system. There are also important security fixes available for popular applications like Adobe Acrobat, Mozilla Firefox and QuickTime.
Beginning with Apple, there is a security patch for Mac OS [...]
