Posted by Jeremy Scott | 3 Comments
Getting Spam From Your Own Email? Not to Worry
A lot of the SPAM email you see in your inbox comes from strange email addresses. I’m sure you’ve noticed some of them.
Some SPAM even appears to come from your own email address. If that happens… don’t worry. We get SPAM messages all the time from ourselves. It’s often a source of amusement to me, in fact.
As this article points out, the email address that appears in the “from” field has basically nothing to do with where that message really came from. Sadly, it’s terribly easy to set up a message to appear as though it’s coming from a trusted source. From the article:
In fact, so-called address spoofing is such a common trick that it’s become a major tool in phishing scams. The hope is that a suspicious recipient will just look at the sender, see it says “admin@ebay.com” or “service@paypal.com,” and assume the message is legitimate. Of course, it’s as phony as a three-dollar bill, and if you click on the links in that message, you’ll be whisked off to a scam website.
Long story short… you should have good antivirus and anti-spyware software running to protect your machine, just in case you ever click on a phony link unsuspectingly. But, in general, getting SPAM messages from yourself doesn’t mean that your account has been compromised.
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New Years Tech Resolutions to Make your 2008 Great
It’s a brand new year, in case you hadn’t noticed. We thought it’d be a good time to look back at the past year and make some solid tech-related resolutions for the coming year. We hope these will help make 2008 a great year for your business, your website, and how you are able to use technology to better server your customers.
1. I will protect my data and the data of my customers.
This article says that computer breaches hit an all-time high in 2007, and show no sign of slowing in 2008. Those of us here in Nashville might wince a little more at this news, considering the recent theft of our voter registration records from a government building (the thieves used the rather high-tech break-in technique referred to as “throwing a rock through the window.”) If you voted in the last election as a registered Nashville voter, your full social security number is probably in the hands of some small-time crooks. Ouch.
But stories like this are a dime a dozen. Federal government agencies have seen laptop thefts compromise the data of hundreds of thousands. Companies everywhere are still being reactive instead of proactive. Identity theft has tripled in the past year.
Here’s a resolution that can save a lot of strife down the road: protect your computers and the data that they store. Password-protect things, and use a real password, not “12345“. Run a firewall (please, for the love of all things holy, run a firewall). Don’t put employee or client data on laptops. Encrypt your wireless router. Basically, all the security steps you’ve avoided because you thought these things couldn’t happen to you.
Start 2008 off fresh, lock down all your data, and be prepared. The consequences are far too scary to skimp on security. We’re happy to help you get set up.
2. I Will Do My Part to Help Search Engines Rank My Site Properly
The latest numbers on search are in, and guess what… search engines are more important than ever. In November 2007 alone, over 61 Billion searches were performed. That’s an average of more than 10 searches per month for every living person on the planet.
According to Enquiro–a web search statistics firm–56% of people use search engines on a daily basis. 26% of those people will give up their search if they can’t find what they’re looking for in the first two pages of search engine results. So, the point is, if you’re site isn’t listed in the first two pages of the rankings for your target keyword phrases, you’re not reaching the very audience that’s looking for you.
It is simply no longer acceptable to just have a website. If you’re not being found in search engines, you’re business is falling behind. Again, we’re happy to help with this sort of thing, but whether you use us or someone else… the fact remains that if you’re not optimizing your site for search, you’re throwing money away.
3. I will stop spamming my clients with ugly, unsolicited emails.
You type up a wonderfully-worded marketing message, paste it in the body of a new email message, and then carbon copy your entire contact list… raise your hand if you’re guilty of this?
This may be annoying some of your customers who don’t necessarily appreciate SPAM messages. What’s worse, your messages probably aren’t even getting to many of your intended recipients. One of the first things spam filters look for is numerous recipients of a single message–even the most basic filters will often block your message before the customer even has a chance to see it.
What if I told you there was a way to send a marketing message through email that looks beautiful, a message so branded and personalized that the customers actually wanted to recieve it? Would you believe that such a thing already exists? We call it Keymail. Keymail is an email marketing product that conforms to all spam laws. It is custom designed to match your existing website, logo, or other graphics. It has personalization features to make recipients feel like a prized client. And best of all? It’s cheap. So cheap that not using it is almost criminal.
4. I will stop wasting time and money dealing with unwanted spam emails.
Spam costs money. Most of our clients say they get between 100-200 unwanted solicitation emails per day–at least, those not using our Postini email filter. Wading through all those messages to discern the junk from the business correspondance wastes precious time. Even if you only spend 10 minutes a day sorting email, that adds up to over 43 hours a year. I don’t know what you make per hour, but multiply that number by 43 and you’ll see a very real dollar amount for how much money spam is costing you.
Google–you might have heard of them–they own Postini, and use it on their Gmail service. Google says more than 70% of all email to their Gmail accounts is spam. If you’re not experiencing a similar level of spam, count yourself lucky. Oh, and act now, before it gets worse.
You owe it to yourself to free up your time. And like Keymail, Postini email filtering is every bit as inexpensive as it is effective.
5. I will throw my server down a flight of stairs in a cathartic release
Okay, we don’t really encourage you to do that. Servers don’t tend to survive such trips, as our video above shows. Yes, that’s really us, at our real office, chucking a useless and hated server to its death. (Hey, we thought it would be best to end this list of resolutions with something fun). Should you ever find yourself so frustrated with your machine that you can’t help but recreate the above scene–we’ll do what we can to help you get back on your feet. But it’s easier if we set up the new server before destroying the old one!Happy New Year, Keystone clients! May 2008 be filled with technology solutions that see your business grow beyond your dreams.
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Identity Theft Has Tripled in the Last Year
Identity theft is a growing problem…a rapidly growing problem. As USAToday reports:
“More than 162 million records have been reported lost or stolen in 2007, triple the 49.7 million that went missing in 2006, according to USA TODAY’s analysis of data losses reported over the past two years.”
Wow. That’s… alarming.
So now is as good a time as any to brush up on some basic identity protection tips (actually, it’s way past the time to brush up on this, but if you’ve had a hard time getting motivated, allow this new report to wake you up and help you smell the coffee).
Identity theives operate in a varitey of ways, but one of the most common is also the easiest to guard against: unattended laptops, mail, computer equipment, disks, and flash drives. Apparently, the section of the population most prone to leave their computer lying around unattended are also among the most likely to have their sensitive information on said computer, in easy to find places.
Another problem is employees skirting the rules: the study finds that 35% of empolyees felt compelled to end company rules on internet and email usage just to get their jobs done. So these folks end up emailing things from work to their home or to friends–things they shouldn’t email such as account numbers and passwords.
Phishing is another trend on the rise, where thieves create copycat websites that look and behave just like the real ones. So you think you’re logging into your Yahoo mail account, but you’re really just giving your account information and password to the bad guys. Yahoo and many other online firms have taken steps to help avoid this problem, by having users choose a Site ID Key or unique color scheme, so that users can quickly know they are logging in to the correct place. Unfortunately, millions of users simply don’t take advantage of this technology, further opening themselves up to attack.
While identity theft’s rise has been sharp, the fact remains that the majority of instances of this crime are avoidable with proper planning and precaution.
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Salvage Your Company’s Productivity With Web...
The internet can be a tremendous resource for businesses. It can also be a gigantic, colossal waste of time that distracts employees and kills productivity. It all sort of depends on the kind of people you have working for you and what kind of access to the web that you allow them.
Between email, company websites, and information gathering, it’s nearly impossible to avoid having internet access for your employees. But how do you make sure Suzie is really doing research and emailing clients instead of updating the blog on her MySpace page? Assuming you’ve ruled out “standing over Suzie’s shoulder”, the answer is easy: Websense.
Websense is a leading provider of internet security and filtering products, integrating seamlessly with networks and desktops of all varieties. Set up a Websense filter, customize it with the specific types of websites you want your employees to avoid, and watch your company productivity soar. Websense also filters out websites with malicious intentions that could harm your computers with spyware and other harmful programs.
Keystone is a proud provider of Websense solutions, and can easily set it up to work with your existing network. Give us a call to learn more, or check out our company website.
Read MorePosted by Jeremy Scott | 0 Comments
Password Basics
How do you pick the perfect password?
(Here’s a hint: Don’t use your first name, or the word “password”).
Yahoo Tech has put together a nice roundup of articles they’ve featured regarding password security. Most of us know not to write down our passwords for email, programs, and other online accounts. A post-it note on your computer screen with your password is not the most secure method of remembering it.
However, most people go too far the other direction. They know they need to keep their password private and in their memory, so they end up choosing something easy to remember. Problem is, most hackers have learned how to guess the “easy to remember” passwords.
Here’s a list of the 10 most common passwords. If your password is on that list…change it immediately.
They also have an article on how to properly choose a safe password. It’s full of great ideas such as using words that are easy to pronounce, but are spelled wrong (like “piktshure”).
Here’s a great round-up of all sorts of general password safety tips.
It’s pretty depressing to read that, given enough time, a hacker can figure out any password. But that’s all the more reason to make it as tough for the hackers as we can. Hopefully, they’ll move on to another person who hasn’t put as much effort into creating a secure password.
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