Still running Windows? Beware of this....

[GreyGeek]

http://www.microsoft.com/security/on...one-scams.aspx

Avoid tech support phone scams

Cybercriminals don't just send fraudulent email messages and set up fake websites. They might also call you on the telephone and claim to be from Microsoft. They might offer to help solve your computer problems or sell you a software license. Once they have access to your computer, they can do the following:

• Trick you into installing malicious software that could capture sensitive data, such as online banking user names and passwords. They might also then charge you to remove this software.
  
• Take control of your computer remotely and adjust settings to leave your computer vulnerable.
  
• Request credit card information so they can bill you for phony services.
  
• Direct you to fraudulent websites and ask you to enter credit card and other personal or financial information there.

Neither Microsoft nor our partners make unsolicited phone calls (also known as cold calls) to charge you for computer security or software fixes.

It goes on to describe more. Pass it on to your friends who use Windows ... Or Macs....

[Feathers McGraw]

That does worry me, I can think of a few people I know who might be duped by that.

There was a recent Indian call centre scam that made me laugh, but was apparently quite successful. They would basically just call up, say something like "I heard you are having some problems with your computer", get you to open some logs and see error messages, and then say that the errors have occurred because your warranty has run out... and sell you a new one!

I'm more worried about this becoming widespread:
http://slashdot.org/topic/datacenter...rs-vulnerable/

I know very few people who change their wifi password, let alone the admin password:

Feathers

[GreyGeek]

That does worry me, I can think of a few people I know who might be duped by that.

There was a recent Indian call centre scam that made me laugh, but was apparently quite successful. They would basically just call up, say something like "I heard you are having some problems with your computer", get you to open some logs and see error messages, and then say that the errors have occurred because your warranty has run out... and sell you a new one!

I'm more worried about this becoming widespread:
http://slashdot.org/topic/datacenter...rs-vulnerable/

I know very few people who change their wifi password, let alone the admin password:

Feathers

I saw that and posted information about it here: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...from-the-dead!

From the conversation about passwords in another section of this forum the GRC "Haystack" web page seems to indicate that password length is the most important property of security, and using multiple words as part of your password is most of it.

[jlittle]

http://www.microsoft.com/security/on...one-scams.aspx

This is very old news in my part of the world. We've been plagued by these calls for years. I had to wipe and reinstall and elderly friend's laptop (Vista, yech) once, because she'd followed the instructions on such a call, and installed their stuff. There was a six month period two years ago where the calls were about two a month. Usually the initial caller's English was so bad it was difficult to understand anything, to the point where one assumed that any call without a local caller id that was unintelligible was one of these scams. If I had time on my hands I would try to string them along for sport, my record was about half an hour, but I soon tired of that.
Maybe in the USA telcos can be sued if they pass on such a call; there has to be a way for the telco to catch overseas calls like this.

[Teunis]

Same here in The Netherlands, these guys have been around for a couple of years.
Going by their accent they are Indian and even though they don't speak Dutch it's apparently worth their time to call idiot Dutchman.

A couple of times I've had them on the line, quite a feat as I'm hardly ever at home
The first time I told him straight away I wouldn't fall for his scam and hung up.
The next time I tried to play the game and stretch it but around these criminals I just loose patience too quickly
So the last several times I've politely asked them if their mother was proud of having raised a criminal.
This made the last one really mad and before he hung up he replied with some choice swear words...

[vinnywright]

I saw that and posted information about it here: https://www.kubuntuforums.net/showth...from-the-dead!

From the conversation about passwords in another section of this forum the GRC "Haystack" web page seems to indicate that password length is the most important property of security, and using multiple words as part of your password is most of it.

true ,,,,,,,I tryed to use john the ripper one time to run a brute force crack on a password encrypted .rar file (that contained my deceased sons old school work/stories and such) .

assuming the use of upper and lower case letters and numbers and special caricatures a 1 to 6 string password was relatively quick to process once you get over 7 to 9 caricatures it takes some time weeks to month's over 12-13 caricatures the estimated time to completion was several thousand years .

now this was 5-7 years ago on a much slower CPU (a 850Mhz) but you get the point ,,,,,,, longer string with more caricatures=longer/harder to crack

VINNY

[Feathers McGraw]

How long did it take in the end?

[vinnywright]

How long did it take in the end?

I actually gave up after a few weeks of letting it run 24/7 .

I may try again some time I still have the file and the current rig has a corei3 @2.4GHz ,,,,,but still I am sure his password was at least 12 caricatures long ,,,,even in 2005 we knew long passwords were the strongest ,,,,,,,,,,,,duhuh

VINNY

[Feathers McGraw]

Well that's a good advert for encryption I guess! Must be so frustrating for you though

[vinnywright]

Well that's a good advert for encryption I guess! Must be so frustrating for you though

when you loose a child the layers of sorrow/regret/frustration/remorse go on and on and tho time can lead to acceptance ,,,,, it never goes away .
that .rar file is just 1 small piece of the onion that makes up the emotional aspect of it ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, well this has me on the hunt for a new .rar cracker and a new go at it ,,,,,,,,,,,,here we go again

but slightly back on topic ,,,,, I did get one of those calls one time and it wint no where of course , but what it reminds me of is those services like cable or Internet that incessantly try to get you to commit to automatic payment when you call them for an extension on your bill ,,,,,,, it's like,, what makes you think if I'm having to ask for an extension I could afford for you to just take it out my acct. if I'm not ready to pay you.
the last time it happened thay asked no less than 6 times during the process of getting the extension .
It really felt like some form of assault or strong arm tactic!!

VINNY