Email Trick Test	4.0/5.0 (1 votes total) Rate: Select 1 - Terrible 2 - Poor 3 - Average 4 - Good 5 - Outstanding
Sam Henderson August 24, 2006

How to avoid being a victim of vicious scams.

It's about a little knowledge and simple steps you can take to avoid these criminals.

Three out of five emails are "SPAM".

It's not surprising that it annoys us because there's so much of it, and the content ranges from adverts to porn, begging letters and scams.

With regard to emails spam means "unsolicited bulk email" - Bulk email means sending the same message to many thousands of people, a favorite with spammers. Someone somewhere will click on it.

The email trick test will help you to avoid a very nasty scam called "Phishing". You might receive an email:

"We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity."

"During our regular verification of accounts, we couldn't verify your information. Please click here to update and verify your information"

They're trying to get information from you such as credit card details, bank account information, Social Security number, passwords, or other sensitive information.

Once they get your personal details, they go for the short term gains by raiding your bank account and "maxing out" your credit cards. They can also take out loans in your name. You probably won't know about it until the loan company's start chasing the overdue payments.

Legitimate companies will not ask for personal information by email. Don't let the style of the email mislead you, it's very easy to copy bank headers. Don't use any links from these emails as they can make links look as if they're going to one place, but they're being redirected to another.

If you get an email with an attachment and you don't recognise the sender, don't open it, delete it. Attachments to emails can transfer a virus; it's often launched when you open the attachment (usually by double- clicking the attachment icon).

Malware - software designed to infiltrate or damage computer systems. Malware commonly includes computer viruses, worms, Trojan horses, spyware and adware.

Viruses - a computer virus behaves in a similar way to a biological virus, which spreads by inserting itself into living cells. The negative effect of computer viruses includes uncontrolled self-reproduction, which can overwhelm your computer. They can erase files and corrupt the operating system. They can arrive on a floppy disk, from a download, or an attachment to an e-mail.

Worms: a self-replicating computer program similar to a computer virus. A worms self-contained and doesn't need another program to propagate itself. Worms tend to harm the network and consume bandwidth, whereas viruses infect or corrupt files on a targeted computer.

Trojan horses: Trojan horse programs can't operate on their own like viruses or worms. A Trojan horse, technically a normal computer program, does not possess the means to spread itself. They will probably be part of a free game or program.

In the background it might modify or delete files, change the configuration of the computer, or even use the computer as a base from which to attack other computers.

Spyware – it’s software that gathers information on how you use your computer, and then transmits the data to another source. It can also transmit the usernames and passwords you've typed in online.

Adware - it's software that displays advertising on your computer. Spyware and adware are often part of the same program. But when the software starts silently spying on you, it stops being harmless.

Hackers / criminals can run software on your computer, place malicious code on your hard drive, and even copy exactly what you're typing.

What You Can Do About It - It's Easy and Essential

First a few explanations

A Firewall examines the traffic/data coming into and going out of a computer, and then either allows or denies this traffic. If there's no firewall, a personal computer runs the risk of being hi-jacked within minutes of going on the internet. It becomes an open door through which anyone or anything can enter.

Anti-virus - a virus can erase files and corrupt the operating system.

Latest windows updates - especially those relating to Security

Stop Spyware - malicious spyware programs that install themselves without your permission and then sends data silently to another source without you knowing.

Stop Unwanted email - a program that sorts out the spam, not essential for everyone, but you will know when sorting the email takes up too much of your time.

Regular backups are absolutely essential, because sometime in the future you will meet a problem. With a backup you can smile, if there's no backup you're in real trouble.

Resources - that cover security issues mentioned in this article:

Online Security: http://www.firewallguide.com/index.html

Windows free updates: http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate

Anti Spam - Anti Phishing: http://www.cloudmark.com

Free Spam Blocker: http://www.mailwasher.net

Start with resource number one "Online Security" you will learn more about the things you need to know, and there's also quality free software available.

It's not very exciting checking your security, but it's better than the emotional stress, or financial loss.

Think about it - seriously!