Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) and Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) have both become key tools helping protect us from cyber threats. Requiring two or more verification steps to access an account adds a strong layer of security beyond just a password. However, even with its strengths, MFA and 2FA can still be vulnerable, especially when users approve sign-in…
Do you use any of these extremely popular – and eminently hackable – passwords? If so, Philip Muncaster from our security partner, ESET, has a New Year’s resolution for you! Security experts have been predicting the death of the password for well over a decade. But it’s still the main way we log-in to our online accounts…
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast approaching, consumers are being warned to be vigilant when shopping in this week’s sales, with a rise in scams expected to cost shoppers millions. According to Barclays Bank data, the number of reported purchase scams rose by 34 per cent immediately after Black Friday and Cyber Monday last year…
The first rule of passwords is, “We do not use the same password everywhere.”The second rule of passwords is “WE DO NOT USE the same password everywhere!” There have been plenty of well-publicised losses of data by various organisations where user names, email addresses and passwords have been obtained. You may have never actually purchased…
At VCI, we are all about family. And we want to help look after yours too. With children spending a lot of time online these days and with many potential risks lurking online, it is essential we teach our children how to read and understand online information and navigate the internet safely. As children get…
On occasions where we ask someone to check or move a cable there may be understandable confusion as to which cable is which – particularly given the almost supernatural ability possessing all cables where they entangle themselves seemingly without any external input. We recently received a call from a client whose screen display had a…
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast approaching, consumers are being warned to be vigilant when shopping in this week’s sales, with a rise in scams expected to cost shoppers millions. Police said crime over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period last year defrauded online shoppers in Britain of £2.5m. Many never received goods they ordered from…
At first glance, this looks like just a bit of fun! A trip down memory lane, your place of birth, your month of birth, your first holiday abroad… But all is not as it seems – and just look at the number of comments attached to these posts, the number of people taken in by…
It’s quite probably the case that 2020 has seen more online shopping than ever so, as Christmas approaches, the following reminders are worth keeping in mind. Purchase from known sites and stores – don’t fall into the trap of searching for a product and clicking on the top link, or get lured into an impulse…
Your spam filter will hopefully pick up the majority of erroneous fake emails doing the rounds but, should one slip through the net, here are 5 key clues to look out for, based on the above message, to help ensure you click DELETE!
How can the innocent post-it note end up costing you a fortune? Find out more and make sure you don’t let that happen to you & your business!
I have written plenty about passwords over the last few years but I still have people happily telling me they use the same, single password for everything – a fact only made worse when the follow up comment is along the lines of, “..and I can’t be done with complex passwords.” Good passwords are essential….
“Your account has been compromised and, to prove it, here is your password.” In recent weeks we have taken a number of calls from users who have received emails which, in amongst whatever scam is being run, try to offer up some validity to the claims by presenting a user with his or her password….
There are several tell-tale signs to help you spot a spam email! Below, the much-discussed topic of fake and harmful emails gets the video treatment with a quick look at how to spot the tell-tale signs quickly and easily. Or the written version is here: 5 Clues to an Erroneous Email – VCI Systems If…
For most a New Year’s Resolution is all about self-improvement and if you want to keep that going long into the year you don’t need to look much further than your office PC. Small changes and new habits can soon add up and have a massive effect on how easy it is for you to…
This may read as a self-congratulatory post but I simply want to illustrate that we do practise what we preach. I received the following email today which purported to come from a domain registration company. Regular readers of our site will know that I am instantly suspicious of a mail with the salutation “Dear customer” rather than…
“Are you sitting comfortably? Then I’ll begin.” People of a certain age may well recognise this as the introduction to “Listen with mother”, a radio program of stories, songs and nursery rhymes for a captivated pre-school audience. The theme tune, a gentle piano duet (Lullaby from Gabriel Fauré’s “Dolly Suite” for those that want to…
My elder son had an English test at school yesterday. The comprehension section included a passage of text about a poisonous snake. Before answering the questions, he crossed through the word “poisonous” and above it wrote “venomous”. Yesterday was clearly the day for such scrutiny as I also had a client contact me with suspicions regarding…
Of all evenings for this to happen, Halloween….. The boss is supposed to be on holiday but now he’s mailing you to insist you get some urgent payments made. What to do…? The internet seems to be running slowly, the noise from the kettle boiling sounds just a little too loud and now a black…
As discussed in my previous article, there seems to be an increasing chance of genuine email getting quarantined by spam filtering tools as the battle to protect against unwanted or harmful content continues. When investigating a ‘lost’ outbound email we often arrive at the point where we can prove an email arrived to the recipient’s…
A quote often attributed to George Bernard Shaw observed that, “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” Scholars may disagree on the original author but the sentiment applies well in the modern world. Through the opening months of 2016 I think I have spent more time investigating errant…
2016 already looks to be the year of Ransomware. Scan any technical news publications over the last quarter and you will see councils, hospitals, at least one (US) police department and various other high profile establishments who have made the news having fallen victim to a ransomware attack. Browse back through recent articles on our…
If you have read previous posts on our news section here you will be both familiar and wise to spoof emails but here is another quick reminder. A quick glance at the purported sender and hovering over the link to see the destination provides all the confirmation you need to make your next mouse click…
Having written about the dangers of attachments and spoof emails on several occasions (most recently here), my attention was drawn to an article on the BBC technology pages today regarding the ‘business model’ behind Ransomware malware products. The full BBC article is available here. I was interested to read how, contrary to anecdotal evidence published…
Apologies if I am beginning to sound like a broken record but I find myself, once again, writing a short piece on bogus emails and the dangers that lie within. It’s too big and common a problem to ignore. Below is an image of an email I have seen today. 1 – nothing too suspicious…
You’ve probably seen or even played the game passed on through social media. The title can be a little more, shall we say, ‘niche market’ compared with the generic “movie star” heading I’ve given but the game remains the same as does the risk it poses to your personal data. The game states that you take the…
I received the following email this afternoon (Friday 19th September….) From: Net Faxmashine [mailto:postmaster@docs-dig.com]Sent: 19 September 2014 13:53To: Robert CreechSubject: You have received a new fax message You have received a new fax. This fax was received by Fax Server.The fax has been downloaded to dropbox service (Google Inc). To view your fax message, please…
“At the roundabout, take the first exit”“In two more clicks you have reached ‘a’ destination…..(it might not be yours, and it might not be safe)” Imagine if your car Sat Nav picked a destination with only a tenuous link to the address you first entered, ending in the sort of area where you would never…
If we’ve travelled the “Password 101” journey together this far then we are hopefully in agreement that network passwords are a good thing, and you have some ideas regarding how to create them. Now we need to consider how we manage and maintain all those other passwords required by the various devices we use, the…
In our previous visit to passwords (Password 101 – Part 1) we looked at the need for the password in the office environment. This article delves a little deeper and focuses on network password generation. There is a popular saying that your password should be like your toothbrush, “Change it every three months and don’t…
Ah, the password…invaluable security tool, necessary evil, or simply the reason to have to call IT support before even starting the working day? The concept of a tool to help identify the individual is not new – we have placed our mark or signed documents for many a century – but the prevalence of passwords…
(“May contain nuts” – a series of short articles discussing familiar topics which we should all revisit once in a while) In the early 20th century two con-men, George C. Parker and William McCloundy, successfully ‘sold’ the Brooklyn Bridge to unwitting and, one assumes, wealthy tourists. There are other similar, perhaps apocryphal, stories and it…
(“May contain nuts” – a series of short articles discussing familiar topics which we should all revisit once in a while) You have a website, and you have emails. You know enough to know that these are linked to the fact that you have a domain “yourcompany.co.uk” registered but, beyond that, it all works and…
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