I've been sent the following from my people who do our IT stuff at work which I thought to send out to you all to be aware of...
Believe me when I say that our IT protection guys are about the best there is in the country and certainly know what they are talking about.
I quote;
It being the season of goodwill and joy to all, last minute presents are being ordered, Amazon staff are working overtime, and courier companies are dropping stuff off for Santa’s little helpers to stuff down the chimney/under the tree.
It’s also a great time of year to send out emails with nasty surprises in – CryptoLocker is a current favourite. Often cunningly disguised as a FedEx/other courier company failed delivery notification. Open it and lots of your files get encrypted and a countdown timer gives you X hours to pay a number of Bitcoins in order to unlock your files.
http://www.scmagazineuk.com/nca-warns-uk-of-mass-cryptolocker-ransomware-attacks/article/321576/ Couple of other articles of interest in SC Magazine…
What a good time of year for Banks to be emailing you – who isn’t interested in the state of their bank account with so many transactions going on…. Or maybe expecting a Skype call but was out – be wary of opening the Skype voicemail service email.
http://www.scmagazineuk.com/banks-investigate-security-breach-allegations/article/319643/ And finally – Android (and iPhones) receiving attention.
http://www.scmagazineuk.com/companies-warned-on-dangers-of-androidand-iphone-too/article/325939/Decent antivirus helps, but ask some questions before opening those files/running that app. Prevention is better than the cure……
Unquote.
Despite being told a dozen times what a bitcoin is.. I still couldn't risk passing the info on, suffice to say, I understand it is becoming big business and it involves depriving you of your hard earned pocket money. I've absolutely no doubt that some one out there can inform us all a lot better than I could..
If only more people went sailing, the world would be a lot nicer place ... But hey! Cheer up! Winter solstice tomorrow, then down hill all the way to the sailing season..
I, for one, will be out there sacrificing my first born to the rising sun..... and as a founder member of the King Herod Appreciation Society I feel qualified to say that...!
Andy and Psalter... (Who definitely won't be getting sacrificed .. Not even to that great God, Matt of the New Lands)
