I Am All For Security, But I Do Not Like When It Hides From Me

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A security-based newsletter entered my Inbox Tuesday afternoon and, like a gerbil, I immediately clicked it open to see what kind of shenanigans were going on in the world of cybersecurity.  You can imagine how intrigued I was at the following title:  “Chrome Is Scanning Files on Your Computer, and People Are Freaking Out.”

Well, that certainly got my attention, and I clicked on the link to read the article at Motherboard, and a lot of the associated links, and those associated stories and their links, and before I knew it, more than 30 minutes had gone by – and my jaw was just as slack at the end of that adventure as it was at the start.

Here’s the original article:  https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/wj7x9w/google-chrome-scans-files-on-your-windows-computer-chrome-cleanup-tool

I’m going to give you the “Reader’s Digest” version because I don’t know if many of you are going to read that.

Let’s start with the basics.  Google Chrome is a browser, just like Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, and Mozilla’s Firefox, and Apple’s Safari.  The browser lets you explore the pages on the World Wide Web.

The focus of this article is that deep within the Google Chrome settings, there is a ‘clean up’ option that uses a third-party product (from antivirus vendor ESET) to scan for malware that could, potentially, harm the Chrome browser itself.

One of the parameters associated with this option, “Report details to Google,” is defined as follows: “Includes information about harmful software, system settings, and processes on your computer.”  And the default for this setting is to ALWAYS SEND the data to Google!  Obviously, this setting lets Google’s developers know how to handle any problems that may have been encountered during the scan.

Now that’d be great if Chrome simply scanned a few known locations in which malware frequently appears and then closed down.

Unfortunately, as the reporter describes it, the scanner reached further into the computer than anyone would have suspected, and it was going through the My Documents folder.  I can’t imagine that any malicious software would reside there that could cause any harm to the browser.  So that’s just overkill.  The exaggerated claim is that Google is spying on you, your files, and your computer.

According to a leading Google developer, the scanner “only runs weekly, it only has normal user privileges (meaning it can’t go too deep into the system), is “sandboxed” (meaning its code is isolated from other programs), and users have to explicitly click” on a box if anything is detected.

Like I said, this is the first time I’m hearing about this.  But the text of the “agreement” you have with Google when using Chrome can be found here: https://www.google.com/chrome/browser/privacy/whitepaper.html#unwantedsoftware

I looked into this, and it seems that this clean up “feature” has been in existence for more than a year, and is only now getting any reaction.  But that’s the wonderful nature of the Twitter universe.  Someone makes a discovery; some of her followers take a closer look and get agitated; a reporter asks a few questions, and then everyone gets all riled up about the intrusive nature of a global corporation.

I doubt that any of my clients who have Chrome have EVER seen a pop-up that malware was found.  And I know that many of you use Chrome and that some of you have encountered instances of malware.  It’s simply that the software I have installed on your computers scans more frequently than once a week, is constantly updated, and – most importantly –I monitor the results (not Google!).

While I would want everyone to turn off the setting that sends data to Google, the steps I have followed do not work for more than the logged on session.  If you close your browser and then re-open it, the setting turns itself on again.  I have checked, and it seems that this setting simply cannot be eliminated.

What’s my recommendation:  If you don’t mind having your machine bogged down every now and then by a scanner over which you (and I) have no control, you can continue to use Chrome.  But I would really like to know if you ever get a pop-up from Google about malware.  Otherwise, if you’d prefer a less intrusive browser, send me an email or give me a call and I’ll install Firefox and transfer your favorites.

Thanks and safe computing!

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After This Latest Patch Tuesday I Could Be Convinced To Start Deploying Ubuntu

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“Beware the Ides of March” is a well-known phrase for this time of year. Who knew that it would apply on Wednesday March 14, 2018? That was the day after Microsoft released KB4088875, which had the uncanny ability to remove the network card drivers from Windows 7 Professional and create ghost network cards in Windows Server 2008 R2.

Clients called to tell me they could not connect to the Internet, and asked if I could remote in to fix the problem? Seriously? (Sometimes there is a little bit of humor in IT support.)

No, I am sorry, but I cannot remote in to your computer if you can’t get a network connection. I had to tell a number of clients that I was going to deputize them as “special assistant junior level 1 technicians” for the life of the phone call. In some cases it was a mere 15 minutes; whereas in others it clocked in at closer to 45.

The major saving grace in all of this is that I deploy Lenovo computers to my clients. Fortunately the factory-installed network drivers are available for detection and installation directly from Windows (Device Manager > Unknown Device > Update drivers > Browse my computer), or indirectly via the C:\SWTOOLS\DRIVERS\NETWORK\INTEL folder (requires the user to click on the appropriate EXE file).

Once the network card was re-installed and activated, it was a simple matter of gaining remote control to do two important tasks. The first was to uninstall KB4088875; that absolutely had to go. The second was to run Lenovo’s System Update utility to update the network driver to the current version, and to reinstall (or update) any other software that was removed.

The most worrisome aspect of this little escapade: I’m not sure that all of my clients rebooted following Tuesday’s patch. So this issue is going to crop up again and again over the next few weeks as clients shut down and restart their computers.

I have already run a script to uninstall the patch from those computers, but I may not have caught all of them in time. Similarly, I have blocked the patch from being distributed to the rest of my client base to prevent an onslaught of phone calls and irate clients.

Ubuntu doesn’t seem to have these horrific issues on a regular basis.  Although January’s attempt to fix the Meltdown issue did qualify as truly awful. So if a client only needs to browse the internet and obtain mail via a web browser, I am now, more than ever, inclined to move them to an easier to manage desktop operating system.

Therefore, let me offer “Thanks!” to Microsoft for enabling me to break out of the Windows-only rut and consider an alternative desktop experience for my clients. Ubuntu puts a nice glossy coat on Linux, virtually eliminating the mystery of using a different operating system.

Thanks and safe computing!

So many February events

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It is Black History Month, but it also contains Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day (remind me, why did we decide to smoosh all of those birthdays into only one day?), and let’s not forget my favorite: National Margarita Day (2/22). For a short month, this is chock full of “days.”

What’s all that have to do with computers and security?

Quite a lot!

Every day, there is another announcement of some form of threat to your security: a data breach here, a ransomware attack there, new forms of malware, some other scheme for mining cyber-currency from your computer or smart phone, and even more sinister, the ever-present phone calls from “flaming idjits” that tell you about a problem with your computer that they have detected and called to help you fix. Please! That one just makes me angry. (Although you might be amused at the sheer number of individuals whom I’ve told to engage in physical acts that would require contortions beyond the ability of most…)

I know that no one can be kept on “high alert” day after day without getting weary of it. It is tough for me, and it is a major aspect of my job. I am always pleased when one of my clients gets an email and forwards it to me to ask, “Is this legitimate?” or “What should I do about this?” That means you’re staying on your toes and looking out for your own safety. That’s what I want you to do; that’s what I need you to do.

However I don’t know how many others are getting emails and continuing down the path of – there’s no other word for it – ignorance, and clicking on that link. Because, despite all of the protections that I’ve put in place on your computers, there is still the risk that if you click on a link in an email something bad could happen.

So what should you do if you are attacked?

1. First of all don’t panic, although that’s what most people do.

2a.  Simply pull the Ethernet cord from the back of the computer (there’s a little hitch to squeeze in before you unplug it).

2b.  Business owners, you need to make sure the affected computer is no longer communicating with the server.

3.  Do NOT turn off the computer! You will lose any forensic information that is available. I’m going to need that data to help remediate the problem.

4.  Call me immediately, and use your phone to send me an email with a photo of what’s on your screen so that I can identify the exact nature of the problem.

5.  Let me handle this for you – it is not a “DIY” (do it yourself) project! Don’t start “Googling” for the fix! Some Russian firm with 500 employees wrote the malware and will charge $79.95 to your credit card to fix the solution they created in the first place. And it won’t get fixed – you’ll simply be scammed…

6a.  After I have assessed the damage, and if it is necessary, you can reach out to the local police and to your insurance company.

6b.  For business owners, this is a reminder to make sure you get, or review, your cyber-liability insurance policy.

There, some “tough love” on Valentine’s Day. I hope that you don’t have to go through any of this, and can simply relax and enjoy National Margarita Day with me.

Thanks and safe computing!

It seems it is always the season

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Look, I know that as a business owner, office administrator, or practice manager you get emails from people that you don’t necessarily immediately recognize. It happens to everyone.

By the same token, you’d be hard pressed to ignore an email that was sent in response to one of yours.

That is unless, of course, you didn’t send the original email.

I was quite surprised to see an email from Ronald Perez telling me about an invoice. More so because he included my text regarding a call I was going to make to him.

Unfortunately, the “original” email is fake.

I always close with the word “Thanks!” and have a closing email signature. Neither of which appear in this email.

Looking very closely at the link, it goes to some confabulated address that I’m sure would attempt to ask for a user ID and a password – if it didn’t first attempt to download a key logger to track my future movements over the internet.

It is the very start of the holiday season, so please look carefully at the emails that you receive – BEFORE you click on the link.

And if someone is asking you to pay for something you didn’t order, simply delete it.

Firefox Quantum was supposed to be fast, but it is slow. Here’s how to speed it up!

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I thought that when Mozilla released Firefox 57, code named Quantum, it would live up to the recent hype about how fast it would be.

I did not find that to be the case.  My home page is www.google.com and it would take almost 10 seconds to load it.  That is ridiculously too slow.

I did some research and found others had complained about slow response and freezing web browsers.  The net result is a simple fix:  turn off the Accessibility Services (if you don’t need it).

  1. Click the menu button Fx57Menu and choose Options.
  2. Select the Privacy and Security panel.
  3. Go to the “Permissions” section.
  4. Check the Prevent accessibility services from accessing your browser checkbox.
  5. Restart Firefox.

Simple and sweet – and it works!

Here is the KB article if you want to read the entire description of these services and how you might be affected if you disable them: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/accessibility-services

Hope that helps!

 

The 4 key components for operating a small business using cloud technology

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Think back to the first time you ordered a book on Amazon.com. Wasn’t that a miraculous experience?

Just the thought of not having to sit in traffic to drive to the mall, and the ability to avoid the crowds while you sat at your desk and browsed through thousands of books without screaming kids or having someone looking over your shoulder as you decided between two authors. All of that was achieved with cloud technology. Of course, back then you used dial-up technology to connect to the internet. Things were slow, but you didn’t care – you thought that it was wonderful.

My, what a difference a decade has made!

The simple fact is, cloud computing is NOT a good fit for every company, and if you don’t get all the facts or fully understand the pros and cons, you can end up making some VERY poor and expensive decisions that you’ll deeply regret later.

First, you’ve got to review the standard features of any cloud-based software product. These include flexibility in terms of migrating your existing data to the software vendor’s product, thus obviating the need for hardware expenditures. You’ll be in a position to give your employees the ability to collaborate on the same information at the same time even if they are in diverse locations. And lastly, you will be able to scale up (or ramp down) the number of software licenses to match the speed of growth within your organization.

So if you are interested in using cloud technology for your business, you must start with your internet connection; in this case, the faster the better – as long as it fits within your budget. And, as a successful business owner, you know that something can go wrong at the most in opportune time and you know that you want to avoid that. Therefore, you should ask your IT professional about a cellular failover device to provide redundant back-up service for your internet service provider’s service.

When you work with any cloud software vendor you must understand that they will be keeping YOUR data on THEIR servers. You should find out from the software vendor how they will protect your data from any form of breach, and what actions they will take on your behalf if such an event occurs.

And, because your data is an integral part of your business, you have to ensure that it is backed-up as well as protected. By moving to the cloud you do not get to forego standard data-related housekeeping chores; you simply offload the responsibility to another party. But you should ascertain that they are going to be good stewards of your information by asking them how often data is backed up, and what their retention scheme is.

You will also want to review any and all mechanisms available to you if you decide to terminate your arrangement with the cloud provider. Reasons for this can be varied: They may be going out of business; you may feel you can no longer work within the constraints of the product because it has not evolved over time; or your organization has grown to the point that the product no longer suits your needs. At the very least, you don’t want your data to be held hostage. It is, after all your data. Know beforehand about the means to download it or how you could perform a data migration to another vendor.

All of this means that you should carefully review all of the terms and conditions associated with your account. If you are unsure of anything, or how you would be affected, print it out and have your lawyer review the document.

Because you’ve read this post, I’d like to offer you a FREE Cloud Readiness Assessment to show you there IS a better way to upgrade your computer network AND to demonstrate how a truly competent IT professional (not just a “computer guy”) can guide your company to greater profits and efficiencies, help you be more strategic, and give you the tools and systems to fuel growth.

To respond, please call our office at 866-912-8808 and ask for me, Larry. I personally want to take your call to answer any questions about this blog post, my company, and how we might be able to help you.

Twitter Botnets

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I think that I know my client base well enough to know that the majority of you don’t use Twitter, although you probably do know someone who does (no, I don’t mean that guy who seems to be in the news every day for his posts). Unfortunately, what is happening now with that venue is getting out of control.

In the past few weeks if someone in politics, or in the news media, tweets something that is antithetical to another group’s beliefs, that person’s inbox will be filled to the brim immediately with targeted opposition posts. There are these things called “bots” (short for robots) that are now spewing out antagonist tweets at an unprecedented rate. And they are using Twitter to attempt to change the course of political and social discussions.

We all realize now that the 2016 presidential race was subject to Russian cyber-meddling. Some analysts say that the recent ferocity of the latest assaults is but a mere preview of what could be coming in the 2018 elections. The purpose of these bots is to sow discord, and so far, they are succeeding. While top Russian officials have repeatedly rejected accusations of meddling, the top U.S. intelligence agencies are telling us otherwise.

I’ll certainly bet you never thought the information you got on your mobile device came from a robot programmed to serve up garbage, but it is happening. And now, more than ever before, you now have to question the integrity of the information that you receive. On the one hand, ever since the election Twitter has taken steps to counter false news and kill off fake accounts. On the other, unfortunately, the bots are also getting savvier at dodging detection.

Another AOL Bit of Idiocy

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A client called in on my support phone earlier this afternoon and told me that she had a “Microsoft System Security Alert” screen that was talking to her and that she couldn’t do anything with her computer.

I launched a remote session, and by using the Windows Task Manager I quickly ended the Internet Explorer applications that were running. It was a fast and easy fix for a really stupid problem.

I was extremely grateful that this particular home user called me, instead of the 800 number that was on the bogus alert screen (shown below). But my relief was short lived.

A few minutes later she was back on the phone saying the fraudulent alert was on her computer again. I killed it and ran a scan with Malwarebytes, which turned up nothing.

I reassured her that everything was fine.

When she called a third time, I had to ask what it was she was doing – so she showed me. She launched Internet Explorer and it opened on AOL’s home page. She told me she wanted to go to Amazon to check on a book. And she did so using the AOL Search bar and typing in Amazon.

On the resulting page AOL search results list (shown below), she clicked on the first link that was displayed. I finally understood exactly what was going on.

You see, that is a sponsored advertisement, meaning some organization paid AOL money to highlight their “product” based on a search. Underneath that is, in fact, Amazon’s legitimate web site listing.

I used this as an instructional moment by turning on Internet Explorer’s Status bar. I moved the mouse over the Amazon site link to show that https://www.amazon.com appeared in the Status bar. I then moved the mouse over the ad, and the following bunch of gibberish appeared:

https://174036060.r.bat.bing.com/?ld=d3iEIp8CztNDVVjNTYoqXRUjVUCUzK_5V032YvPMriEHbBBDFcwsFXQFK3s2qR9MgRW_xhZ9J5SlsoSk6f38u2TnHoDCUsZUB1JUNHwTr9OuZjeHpOBGhVUOyzHQ20xE-ECR9lob4HeScYrxeY00wTrgAAZ5Wu2BEbi0Pb9RjRzi-woEAc&u=http%3a%2f%2fgoo.gl%2fyD6Nby%3furl%3dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.amazon.com%252Fbooks-used-books-textbooks%252Fb%252Fref%253Dnav_shopall_bo_t3%253Fie%253DUTF8%2526node%253D283155

I calmly pointed out that if my client knew which web site she wanted to go to, she could simply type it in the address bar of the browser and go there – no searching necessary. She’s glad to have learned that.

What I can’t figure out is how in the heck AOL permitted this ad to be displayed in the first place. By having it up there, they are actively enabling those sleazebag “support agents” to run rough-shod over the typical older AOL user, who does not have a Managed Services Provider to answer her support phone calls.

It took 15 minutes to get through to an AOL Support rep. I’m hoping – after demonstrating exactly what we found – that AOL will take this ad down and pursue the bad actors in some way. Of course, that probably won’t happen…

Beware!

Update 09/07/2017: AOL has removed this ad from the search results list. Probably the fastest action they have ever taken…

Hurricane Harvey Relief Effort Scams

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It is bad enough that the inhabitants of the greater Houston metropolitan area, as well as huge swath of Texas, have experienced one of the worst natural disasters to ever befall the United States. But now, just as the sun is beginning to shine on the Lone Star State, the lowest of the low have begun to crawl out on the internet to take advantage of their suffering.

Yep, that’s right. There are already dozens of sleazebag web sites and email campaigns out there attempting to cash in on unsuspecting Americans who want to donate to relief efforts after the devastating hurricane. It never ceases to confound me that there are such technologically gifted individuals who feel it necessary to enrich their thieving lives by creating bogus web sites.

According to leading security investigator Brian Krebs (https://krebsonsecurity.com), “The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued an alert on Monday urging consumers to be on the lookout for a potential surge in charity scams. The FTC advises those who wish to donate to stick to charities they know, and to be on the lookout for charities or relief web sites that seem to have sprung up overnight in response to current events.”

The advice that Krebs offers includes this helpful note. “The FTC also warns consumers not to assume that a charity message posted on social media is legitimate, and urges folks to research the organization before donating by visiting charity evaluation sites, such as Charity Navigator (https://www.charitynavigator.org/).”

I have taken a look, and the Charity Navigator web site has links to a handful of local Texas-based organizations that can directly use the funds if anyone wishes to donate. While I was there, I reviewed their rating of the Red Cross. I had to stop for a moment and say, “Wait, what?” Sure enough, they are not ranked high because their overall administrative costs are out of line with most other organizations. And, as I discovered with some additional research, the funds you donate on their site for this event may not necessarily be used for hurricane relief. Suffice it to say: You’ve been warned.

Important changes to your AOL Desktop software

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Introducing AOL Desktop Gold

You may have received – or in all likelihood will receive – an email from AOL that reads, in part:

Thanks to one of my clients for forwarding this email to my attention. I had not heard of this before now, so I did some research.

From what I have read in a variety of online forums, this software is a complete travesty. It functions poorly, doesn’t address the needs of most users, and is subject to frequent crashes and computer freezes despite the (supposedly) frequent updates from AOL.

I’m not certain what they were thinking – other than asking hundreds of thousands of older adults for $4.99 a month to be able to send and receive emails – but for those of you who have not paid anything for AOL for years, this is a pretty drastic change.

AOL is saying that because they will now offer two-step verification, your AOL account will be more secure. They will be encrypting the emails that are saved on your hard drive so that no one will be able to read them, thus providing you with more protection. And, because you are a paying customer, you’ll have access to their tech support (definitely not US-based).

So, what should you do?

I am going to recommend that you DO NOT install this software unless you want the headache(s) of dealing with it. If there ever was a time to break free of the AOL desktop software, it is now. It should not be too difficult, but I’m going to cover the available options – and there are only three.

First, you can opt to sign up to receive the new AOL Desktop Gold software. You must have an existing AOL account and (at some point) you’ll have to provide your credit card for the monthly $4.99 charge. The first 30 days are free.

Now I called AOL customer support, and after waiting about 20 minutes for a representative, I asked about that little asterisked statement at the bottom of the email. The one that reads, “To avoid being charged the recurring subscription fee, simply cancel before the free-trial period ends.” This means exactly what it says. You can decide you don’t want to pay for this new software before you get charged. And when you tell AOL that, the software will stop working. Seriously. You won’t be able to access your emails – or your contacts. And you won’t be able to go back to the old desktop software version because the new one has scrambled the crap out of your emails. This is a one-way ticket. I warn you not to do it. If you run into a problem after you install this, I won’t be able to help you – you’ll have to call AOL tech support for help.

Second, you can keep your old software and use AOL in a browser. You will have 30 days from when you receive this email notification until your desktop software will no longer work in terms of sending or receiving email. So you can decide to bite the bullet and use a web browser to work with your new emails, as millions of people do. This isn’t a particularly awful transition, because things are pretty much where you expect them. And it is still AOL and all of your stuff is there for you.

Your existing desktop software will continue to let you access all of your email that was “Saved to my PC.” You will be able to use any browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, or Safari) to access your mail directly at http://mail.aol.com, where all of our “Saved to AOL” mail exists, as well as your contacts.
All of your downloaded email attachments can be accessed through the Download Manager in your old version of the AOL Desktop software, or through Windows Explorer in the folder where the files were originally saved.

I’m sure at least one of you is going to be curious and ask: Can I archive my old mail? The answer is: Sure you can; but you have to do it one at a time. There is no automated mechanism. You have to open the email, select File, then chose the type to save it as, and then you have to use a unique name for each one. If you have thousands of emails, you’ll have to work non-stop throughout those 30 days just to get a small portion of them saved. Not worth the effort…

Third, you can give up using AOL and use another email service. And this means changing your email address, which I know is a horrifying thought. The two free services that I suggest looking at are Outlook.com and Gmail.com. Changing your email address means that you would have to contact everyone you know to say, “Hey here’s my new email address.” You’ll also have to update any website where you sign in, and update any email subscriptions, and your phone and tablet. It is a huge effort, but I wanted to cover all the options. Irrespective of which one you chose, you can save your existing AOL contacts and import them.

Outlook, provided by Microsoft, is a free service that uses the same enterprise infrastructure that Microsoft uses for Fortune 100 companies. Only because you are not a company, you will receive AOL-like ads in your email. You can reduce some of them by using the privacy features in the profile settings. The web interface is clean and pretty straight-forward.

Gmail is offered by Google. It is free; it can be accessed on any web browser anywhere as well as on mobile devices. Similar to AOL, it is not ad-free. The company will display targeted ads; only not based on your activities in Gmail, but instead on things like your Google searches, the YouTube videos you watch, the apps you use, and the websites you visit. You can opt out of those targeted ads — but not Google’s data collecting — by turning off “ad personalization” in your personal Google settings.

There you have it, three not so great possibilities, but that’s the way of the email world in 2017.

AOL is rolling out this change in waves, so it may be some time before you receive the notice. I just wanted you to be aware of what’s going on, and to prepare for it.

Any questions, let me know in the comments.