malware

Certified Legal Nurse Consultants are probably aware that the reason viruses and malware proliferate on the Internet and Facebook is because people click on the darn links. The reason spam proliferates is not just because it’s cheap to send out 200,000 emails with one click of a mouse, it’s because people actually click on the links and buy the fake drugs or whatever else is being peddled.

This week, I have just two words I want to share: STOP IT!

That being said, let’s talk common CLNC^® sense, straight talk that hopefully will help keep you, your legal nurse consulting computer and your Facebook account safe while you cruise the Information Superhighway.

1. If you get an email from a friend, family member, another legal nurse consultant or anyone else in the galaxy that consists of nothing but a link in the body of the email, no matter what the email subject line is – DON’T CLICK ON THAT LINK! Chances are 110% it’s a link to a malware site that will infect your computer, turn it into a zombie and send out more and more of the same to help enlist more hapless users into botnets, which will then be used for all sorts of nefarious purposes.
2. If you get an official-looking email from a bank, credit card company or shopping site (think Toys-R-Us) that you DON’T have an account with telling you they’ve lost your password or that you need to login and reconfirm certain personal details, DON’T CLICK ON THAT LINK and try to login. All you’re doing is giving up your personal information and probably the same password you use on your real bank account. Doesn’t the fact that you don’t have an account with that organization ring any alarm bells? To quote Homer Simpson, “Duh!”
3. If you get an official-looking email from a bank, credit card company or shopping site (think Amazon.com) that you DO have an account with telling you they’ve lost your password or that you need to login and reconfirm certain personal details, DON’T CLICK ON THAT LINK! Real companies don’t lose your password. You’re simply giving up your information to someone who’ll use it to log into your real account.
   
   If you think the email looks real (and some look incredibly real), try rolling your mouse over the link (without clicking on it) and see what pops up on the mouse-over – it’ll probably be something like http://www.ripmeoffquick.ru/visa_scam, not http://www.firstnationalvisa.com/my_account
   
   Real banks, credit card companies and businesses can afford proofreaders and don’t write copy in ESL (English as a Second Language). So, please don’t be clicking on the most politely convenient link that must to be followed.
4. If you get something that’s obviously spam, don’t reply to it. All that does is confirm that you have a valid email address. Just delete it or mark it as spam or junk in your email reader.
5. On Facebook, if you get a message or wall post saying something like: “You are so busted in this hot video,” “You must see this drunk baby, it’s hilarious” or something similar (they change all the time). DON’T CLICK ON THAT LINK! If you do you’ll probably be asked to load special video-viewing software before you see the baby. The special software is, of course, malware that will infect your computer and maybe compromise your Facebook account. It’s really not you in the video (I’ve seen it, it’s not hot either!) and the drunk baby isn’t hilarious (Just sad.). Don’t be tempted, just remove the post.
6. Next, if you get a message on Facebook that tells you to follow a link to learn who’s viewing your profile, DON’T CLICK ON THAT LINK! You guessed it, you can’t learn who’s viewing your profile (and you don’t really want to know). All you’ll do is infect your computer and maybe your Facebook account and end up sending out the same message to all your friends. Just remove the post.
7. Sorry, but there are no international, foreign, domestic or intergalactic email lotteries that you’ve won and only need to send them your banking account information so they can deposit your winnings. Guess what they’ll do with your information?
8. I’m sorry to report that the IRS, FBI and state agencies with unclaimed funds, tax returns or seized, unclaimed money from criminal enterprises that just need your banking information aren’t real. If you really think any government agency is giving away money you’re in more trouble than I thought. The IRS, FBI and similar agencies don’t send email, they can’t afford the postage. If they did, they’d already have all your information because they are the IRS and FBI.
9. Finally, and I know this will come as a surprise to some of you, there are no real widows of deposed finance ministers in sub-Saharan African countries with millions of dollars that are emailing you simply because they need the help of their “most kind and honest sir or madam” to get the money out of the country (that’s what crooked banks and Swiss accounts are for.). If you correspond with them, you’ll end up sending them your money or laundering forged money orders and eventually land in jail. If you don’t believe me, Google^® “Nigerian 419 spam” for yourself.

This behavior will probably never stop during our lifetimes, but CLNC^® consultants can protect themselves with just a little common CLNC^® sense. Get started today and whatever you do, DON’T CLICK ON THIS LINK!

Keep on techin’,

Tom

The Internet has brought an age of convenience for Certified Legal Nurse Consultants. It gives you the ability to market and research that is unparalleled in history. With that opportunity comes some danger and today, one of the safest forms of communicating with attorney-clients has been turned against us. Documents created in the super-hand portable document format (PDF) used to be the safest form of sharing documents. Everyone could open them, read them safely and we’d all see the document exactly as its creator intended. Life with PDFs was good.

That was until someone broke the code and learned how to create a malware package that can be delivered and installed on your computer simply by opening a “poisoned” PDF document. These miscreants took advantage of loopholes in Adobe’s^® Acrobat^® and Adobe Reader software. To avoid these flaws tech-savvy Certified Legal Nurse Consultants turned to alternate PDF readers (like Foxit™) and so the miscreants turned their attention to those readers also.

But do not be afraid my CLNC^® amigos. Luckily on the side of the angels (that’s most of us), there are the fine people who write antivirus programs, antispyware programs and who create fixes for our web browsers and other software to keep us safe. I know that nobody likes patches, whether they’re full of pumpkins, on your favorite denim jacket or even for your operating system (OS). We do need, though, to apply those patches and keep our software up-to-date.

To keep your Adobe software from running malware embedded in a PDF document, open Adobe Reader, go to Edit, then Preferences, then scroll down to Trust Manager and uncheck the box next to “Allow opening of non-PDF file attachments with external applications.” This will provide a basic layer of protection. Even better, if you’re using any version of the free Adobe Reader less than 9 then you should upgrade to Adobe Reader 9.4.0 or higher. If you’re not using the free Reader, IT’S TIME TO UPGRADE. If you’re using a full version of Adobe Acrobat 9 you should upgrade to 9.4.0 or higher. Here is a link to the free Reader. Remember to uninstall your earlier version before installing the new version.

I’ve also blogged before about the dangers of relying on the so-called “automatic updates” features of some software. Sometimes they don’t work and you end up running unpatched or vulnerable software – this includes your web browsers, all your Microsoft programs (including your OS) and especially Adobe products. Nobody knows when the next weakness will be discovered and exploited so keep your patches up to date.

One last tech tip, get a free copy of SUPERAntiSpyware for every computer in your home and legal nurse consulting business and run it once a week (keep it updated too). It’s not guaranteed to catch all malware but it’s a terrific program. I actually run it every other week, alternating it with running a free copy of Spybot^® Search & Destroy. It’s another terrific free resource and between the two, I feel pretty safe knowing one of them has my back, just like I’ve got yours.

Keep on techin’ – bringing safety back,
Tom

Owning a computer for your legal nurse consulting business means installing software. Installing software means that you’ll be updating it sooner or later. Anytime you install or update software you’re going to run across a license agreement that you must accept or decline before you can complete the process. But, my CLNC^® amigos, do you blindly click “Yes – I accept” or do you make a rational choice and actually read the license before you do that?

Don’t worry, I already know that answer – you click “yes.” That’s how you got the Google toolbar on your Internet Explorer^® browser when updating Adobe^®, Java or some other program or plug-in. If you want the toolbar it’s not a bad deal – but how many other times have you installed some software or other plug-in without knowing it, all because you clicked “yes?”

The next time you’re installing software, read the various screens slowly and carefully – you may be getting more than you bargained for. There may be add-ins you don’t need, trial versions of software, toolbars that change your search engine preferences or even, dare I say, malware. If you click “yes” you’ve given it permission to do its nasty work or just clog up your machine.

As a smart Certified Legal Nurse Consultant, you know to read the entire license agreement and, if necessary, to Google any program you don’t know before you agree to install it. Start making smart, rational choices today.

Keep on techin’,
Tom

One thing I know for sure about Certified Legal Nurse Consultants is that they all use different web browsers and different versions of those browsers. I like to keep up to date in my software and have blogged on the importance of updating the software on your legal nurse consulting business and home computers using automatic settings where possible. But once you’re a CLNC^® consultant out on the information superhighway doing research for an attorney-client, how do you know which websites are safe and which are insidious purveyors of malware? You don’t. Not, at least without some outside help.

My customized Firefox^® browser will often warn me of bad or suspect sites while doing a Yahoo!^® search (yes, I’m a Yahooholian versus a Googallion).

For legal nurse consultants who’d like a little more advice on which sites are possibly good or bad, you may wish to consider downloading the WOT – Safe Browsing Tool from WOT Services. Web of Trust (WOT) relies on its member community to rate websites based on the individual user’s experience. You can find the FireFox add-on as a download here and the Internet Explorer^® (version 6.0 and higher) download here. If you’re a Safari or Opera user, there’s no add-on available but there is a cool bookmarklet you can get here. Drag the link to your bookmarks in Opera/Safari (then rename it something like “WOT”) and when you’re visiting a website, you can click the WOT bookmarklet and it will display the site’s rating in a pop-up. Clicking on the bookmarklet again will close the window.

This is a cool add-on. Once you’ve installed it, register for membership in the WOT community and you too can start rating websites and helping keep the web safe for surfing.

Keep on techin’,

Tom