Corey Stokes

A new malware campaign is targeting
“LinkedIn”, a social networking site used by industry professionals.

Bogus e-mail invitations, appearing to originate from LinkedIn, entice
recipients into accessing a seemingly legitimate website. These websites
are actually malicious in nature and attempt to install malware on the
victim’s system. The specific malware is a variant of the stealthy Zeus
Trojan, which is designed to obtain passwords and banking credentials
without the user’s knowledge.

With the advent of Social Media access across the DoD, this malware campaign
represents a legitimate threat to Air Force Networks. Users are reminded to
never open unsolicited messages from unknown senders, especially those
containing untrusted links. These messages should be deleted at once.

Be Safe while online.

Thanks to B. Goff for passing the info

Real Protection for a Cyber world

written by Corey L. Stokes

With the growing popularity of social media, we get a more in depth look into the lives of our friends; and in some cases their friends, and friends friends…you get the point!  With this much freedom for us all to post, blog and report every detail of our lives, there is an element of missing security that we must make take note of.

I’m sure many have heard the stories of privacy violation that many of the social media sites have committed.  From providing personal information to third parties to allowing all parties within a network (by default) view everything on your page. Information that you post or blog is made public knowledge and thus fair game for all to view, use and exploit as they see fit.  As a Face book representative was quoted, information posted on Face book becomes the property of Face book, i.e.: your name, birthday, work place, places you frequent, and even the photos you upload.  All of this information is considered by many social media sites as “public information” thus is treated as such.  Even adjusting your privacy settings does not change what Corporate Face book can access.

I bring this to your attention not to discourage use of social media.  It would be a step in the wrong direction to do so.  I use many social technologies for various functions throughout my day.  I bring this up merely to point out a need for an increased awareness of what is being posted on the Internet, even  the apps being used.  Many apps have been flagged for having embedded malicious codes giving access to your information as well as your friend’s information.   A foot stomper on this point is the story of a woman who, while in the government witness protection program, was located by the person she was being protected from using the posts between her and her boyfriend.

Here are a few tips on how to keep your profile secure while still enjoying the freedoms and joys of social technologies.

Tip 1 – If you do not want your personal information to be publicly known do not post it!!!  You would think this is self explanatory, right? Think again!  How many times have you heard common sense “ain’t so common”? Ok, let me set the scenario. Let’s say you are going on a job interview.  A friend of the family has decided to help you get ahead at work so they referred you to their boss. Now the boss wants to meet you for an interview.  Just last night you posted a picture from the “event” you attended the night before.  Since you were at the “event” you know the whole story behind the photo, and it’s all in fun. But to everyone else, this particular photo seems to show an unruly side of you.    You assume only your friends will see the photo, right?  (Now, back to the interview) Unbeknownst to you the person interviewing you is on your family friends FB page, which is on your dad’s FB page, which is on your FB page.  Do you see where I’m going with this?  Now if he was on his profile prior to your interview he saw your photo.  Should this night of fun cost you the job? Several instances like this have hit the news lately. Be careful what you post, if it can come back to hurt you later, share it anywhere, but in a public forum.

Tip 2 – Visit your privacy and security setting on whatever social network site often! If you know about new features prior to their release, you can read up on them and make a decision on whether or not you’d like to use or participate in any of these features.  Notice I said “if”; over the past few months, many of the social media sites change their sites periodically.   I’m sure in some public announcement somewhere within the companies email listing is a notice that this change will take effect.  But to the average user, one day you log on to your site and it looks one way, the next day, “OMG WTH, where did they move the post button!”  What is not said is that in addition to the new look, came a host of other features. Some of these features were actually designed for you, the end user, some were also designed for partner companies so they can market products to you.   Checking your privacy and security setting on your profile frequently allows you to keep abreast of features and applications for which you have not set controls.   When in doubt, opt out!

Tip 3 – Keep identifiable information from minimal to nonexistent! – I love receiving happy birthday messages from friends, and anniversary notices from people on my wife’s friend list.  I’m sure you enjoy that as well.  However, with identity theft on the rise, and with a minimal amount of internet research and dumpster diving on each of your profile pages, it is very simple to assume your identity.

Tip 4 – Never, EVER, Tag your children in photos! – While listening to one of my many podcasts, a point was made regarding this.  Predators that are searching for easy targets are also using these social media sites. Unless you have your photos locked down and as secure as Fort Knox you really have no idea who is looking at your profile. By tagging your kids in photos you have just given predators your child’s identity. Not to mention, by posting your location, you’ve also told them where to pick your child up.  I know you want to share little Susie’s first karate lesson, or little Junior’s winning kick in his first soccer competition, but avoid tagging them in the photo.  This includes the information you put in the photo caption.  Use ambiguous captions, and title (i.e.: First game, Little Man’s first kick!!).  Just to drive home the point I’ll say it again, never tag your children in photos!

Tip 5 – Ensure your virus protection is up-to-date and being used!

It really bugs me when I get calls from clients who are worried about getting a virus or people hacking in to their system… but they do not have any type of firewall or antivirus protections installed on their computer.   How concerned are you about protecting yourself in a cyber environment if you’ve failed to utilize some of the most basic of steps?    Virus protection and a firewall is your front line of defense to protect yourself while online. The equivalent to locking your door, a good antivirus protection will keep many unwanted programs off of your computer.   If you spend money on anything, ensure it is on your virus protection.  Guaranteed, if you leave the door open, someone will walk in.

Now, are these methods 100% secure? Probably not!  If someone has targeted you and wants your information, there is little to nothing you can do to prevent it.  This list is also not all inclusive. There is a plethora of ways to keep you safe while operating on the Internet.  These are just some simple steps you can take that will not make you an easy target.

I stumbled across this one night and very glad I found it.  Hopefully it can help you as well.  Adobe has the capability to read to you!!!!  Don’t believe me, here it is straight from Adobe.  This article can be found at http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/tutorials/acr6araccessibility.html.

Excerpted from “Adobe Acrobat 6 Visual QuickStart Guide” by Jennifer Alspach.

Accessibility features in Adobe® Acrobat® can be valuable alternatives for accessing information in a PDF document. For example, users can hear a PDF document read aloud, or scroll a PDF document automatically. These and other accessibility features help users with motor and vision challenges to use PDF files with relative ease.

Reading out loud The Read Aloud feature converts text to spoken words. You can choose to have one page read, or the whole document, and you can choose the reading order. While a PDF is being read out loud, you can always pause or stop the reading.

To set the Read Aloud options: 1.Choose Edit > Preferences (Windows®), or Acrobat > Preferences (Mac).

2.Choose Reading from the list on the left. This displays the default reading preference settings.

The default reading preferences.

3.Set desired volume level.

4.Choose a voice. On Windows you only have the default voice. On the Macintosh, choose from a variety of voices. Keep in mind that some voices sound better than others. You can set the pitch and words per minute as well, on both Mac and Windows.

5.Choose a reading order from the pop-up menu.

Select a reading order.

•Infer Reading Order is generally the best method for reading a document. This option reads in the order that the document was tagged. If the document isn’t tagged, it will use the most logical reading order.

•Left to Right/Top to Bottom Order will read the PDF strictly from left to right and top to bottom, regardless of how the document was created.

•Use Reading Order in Raw Print Stream reads the words in the order they were recorded in the print stream.

•Check Read form fields to read aloud text fields, check boxes and radio buttons in forms (Acrobat 7).

6.Click OK.

Other Accessibility Options There are a number of other simple things you can do to make your document more accessible to all readers. You’ll find some of these features in Preferences, some in other areas of the program.

Visibility One of the quickest ways to make your PDF more readable for people with vision challenges is to change its viewing options. When you first open a file, change the Default Zoom in the Page Display panel of Preferences.

Set the magnification of your document to something that will be helpful to visually challenged users.

In the Accessibility panel of Preferences, you’ll find other options that increase the visibility of text and graphics on your pages by changing the Document Colors Options. For example, you can choose to replace the page background and text colors.

The Accessibility area lets you set your document colors to be more visible than they might normally be.

Automatic scrolling Using the Automatic Scrolling feature lets you move through a PDF without relying on the mouse.

To scroll automatically: 1.With the document open, choose View > Automatically Scroll. The document will start scrolling slowly down your screen.

You can choose to automatically scroll through documents, using the keyboard to control speed and direction of scrolling.

2.Use the number keys to control the speed of the scrolling, with 9 being fast and 0 being slow.

3.Use the up and down arrow keys to change the direction of scrolling. You can also use the hyphen or minus key to go backward.

4.To go to the previous or next page, use the left or right arrows.

Making Your PDF Accessible You can check how accessible your PDF is. Acrobat will report on the following accessibility features: alternative text for figures, specified languages for text, reliable character encodings, and logical structural tree referencing for the contents of the PDF file.

Check for accessibility: Choose Advanced > Accessibility > Quick Check. A window appears, with a brief report on the accessibility of your document.

This window shows the result of Acrobat’s Accessibility Quick Check.

To make your PDF accessible:

1.Open the PDF you want to make accessible.

2.Choose Advanced > Accessibility > Make Accessible. Your document won’t look any different: The tagged areas are hidden in the background.

Acrobat can automatically make your document more accessible