Probably everyone by now has heard of Target's unfortunate lapse in security which led to the compromise of upwards of 70 million accounts. Today, Target is taking steps toward damage control, not just for themselves but for the customers who face possible targeting down the road. Pun intended. Their email states that they are "offering one year of free credit monitoring to all Target guests who shopped in U.S. stores". This is refreshing. Not only has the retailer solved the problem from their end, they are offering mitigation for end users.
Where did the problem arise? It wasn't a hack from outside that just downloaded the information, it was malware that was actually running on their registers. Granted, this resulted from a hacker intrusion, but it goes to the point of the malware itself. Follow the money. In some form or fashion, this variety of software exists to bilk people. It is propagated to earn.
Malware isn't my point, though. Ownership is. Responsibility. Taking charge and making reparations, making it right. I do that even for mistakes that aren't mine, which breeds sensitivity on the subject. For example, a client needed full backup of the computers in their business in case of failure. There was failure, not only of the system but of the verified backup as well! I had recommended and installed the software to provide the failsafe, but it did not work. Now what?
I worked all weekend to get the system back up and running, upgrading their operating system in the process without charging them overtime or for the upgrade. Why? Because it was the right thing to do. It wasn't my fault the backup failed, but it was on my recommendation the customer used it. It certainly wasn't their fault. In my book, owning it is the only right thing to do, making it right, and that is what I did. There have been a lot of orphaned, high profile failures in that area lately. Seeing Target own their issue made my day.
Monday, January 13, 2014
Monday, January 6, 2014
Cutting Back On Spam
Technology is pervasive today, and those that make their living convincing us to part with our money are expert as leveraging it to their fullest benefit. Spam email, spam phone calls, spam snail mail, all leading to some form of payday for the instigator. People often ask why, and the short answer is just this: money, payment, profit. Spam email is sent with hook of some sort, spam phone calls come complete with a spiel. And on the other end? Buy it now, invest, support or otherwise spend. In some form or fashion the messages pay for themselves or they would stop. Question is, how do we stop them first?
Stopping unwanted messages these days can usually be done although some forms are easier to stop than others. Spam snail mail is probably the hardest, since the mail carrier is fully complicit in the success of this exploit. The best way to stop junk mail is to maintain two separate physical addresses, one for important information and the other to be supplied when an address is demanded but is never intended to be used. Short of this, make sure when signing up for anything online to uncheck all the boxes that ask whether this company and its partners can send information. No, no, a thousand times NO!! And when junk is coming through already, make it easy on yourself and sort the mail by the roundfile. Keep the important deliveries and deposit the rest as soon as they arrive.
The word spam was coined to describe email, and the word now connotes unwanted junk messages that take time to sort and destroy. The first thing is to maintain several email addresses, one for public use and anther that private messages are addressed to. Many providers offer the option of creating an additional address, and the easiest way to invoke this form of protection is to create a new private address and send it only to contacts. Keep the existing address for the catchall.
Gmail offers another way to filter, in their addressing capacity. Using address@gmail.com for an example, adding +info or +spam or anything else into the address in this format: address+spam@gmail.com will result in a "new" address, delivered to the same account, than can later be filtered as desired. Another excellent way to handle address disclosure is with an amazing addon for Firefox and Chrome called MaskMe. This service will create throwaway addresses that can still be delivered. If the address is being bombed, it easily disconnects and stops delivery.
Most large email providers now have excellent spam filtering. If using a less proactive email service, use the filtering and sorting capabilities of Thunderbird or Outlook. Though these take a bit more effort to set up, once in force they will ease the heavy lifting and take back the inbox. Filters are also of great benefit for real email messages, marking them and sending them to helpful folders so the user doesn't have to do it by hand. Gmail labels offer the same functionality plus additional options to use as desired.
Phone spam is even more annoying, but is equally controllable. The trick to this, like the others, is forward thinking. Both iPhone and Android have apps available for managing incoming calls, and some smartphones have this functionality built in. Calls can be handled according to their status in the contact list, to time of call, and more. If the calls are coming to the land line, forward them to the cell and take advantage of additional control. For new phone number requests, set up a Google Voice account and give out that number rather than the real one, set calls to hang up or go straight to voicemail and take back dinner time.
Stopping unwanted messages these days can usually be done although some forms are easier to stop than others. Spam snail mail is probably the hardest, since the mail carrier is fully complicit in the success of this exploit. The best way to stop junk mail is to maintain two separate physical addresses, one for important information and the other to be supplied when an address is demanded but is never intended to be used. Short of this, make sure when signing up for anything online to uncheck all the boxes that ask whether this company and its partners can send information. No, no, a thousand times NO!! And when junk is coming through already, make it easy on yourself and sort the mail by the roundfile. Keep the important deliveries and deposit the rest as soon as they arrive.
The word spam was coined to describe email, and the word now connotes unwanted junk messages that take time to sort and destroy. The first thing is to maintain several email addresses, one for public use and anther that private messages are addressed to. Many providers offer the option of creating an additional address, and the easiest way to invoke this form of protection is to create a new private address and send it only to contacts. Keep the existing address for the catchall.
Gmail offers another way to filter, in their addressing capacity. Using address@gmail.com for an example, adding +info or +spam or anything else into the address in this format: address+spam@gmail.com will result in a "new" address, delivered to the same account, than can later be filtered as desired. Another excellent way to handle address disclosure is with an amazing addon for Firefox and Chrome called MaskMe. This service will create throwaway addresses that can still be delivered. If the address is being bombed, it easily disconnects and stops delivery.
Most large email providers now have excellent spam filtering. If using a less proactive email service, use the filtering and sorting capabilities of Thunderbird or Outlook. Though these take a bit more effort to set up, once in force they will ease the heavy lifting and take back the inbox. Filters are also of great benefit for real email messages, marking them and sending them to helpful folders so the user doesn't have to do it by hand. Gmail labels offer the same functionality plus additional options to use as desired.
Phone spam is even more annoying, but is equally controllable. The trick to this, like the others, is forward thinking. Both iPhone and Android have apps available for managing incoming calls, and some smartphones have this functionality built in. Calls can be handled according to their status in the contact list, to time of call, and more. If the calls are coming to the land line, forward them to the cell and take advantage of additional control. For new phone number requests, set up a Google Voice account and give out that number rather than the real one, set calls to hang up or go straight to voicemail and take back dinner time.
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