Keep an eye out when you're searching for information on Swine Flu! Bad guys are poisoning search results in hopes that you'll click their link during your searches. F-Secure reports that there are dozens of domains being registered with names like mexican-swineflu(dot)com and swine-flu-epidemic(dot)org.
...to be a member of an honor society that apparently few people have ever heard of.
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The IT Security Office has received quite a few reports from members of the KU community who have received this message. At this time, we would recommend against handing your credit card and personal information over to this group. Here's why:
The Conficker worm is receiving a great deal of media attention in both information technology-related publications as well as mainstream media outlets like the news magazine 60 Minutes. KU IT Security Office staff are monitoring the situation.
Whether you've lived in Kansas for years or this is your first storm season, now is a good time to think about protecting yourself and your data from severe weather.
The Geek Stuff shows you how to Hire 7 Personal Bodyguards to Browse Internet Securely.
On Friday, January 30, 2009, a memo went out to all KU faculty, staff, and students. It read a little something like this:
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This is a reminder that KU will NEVER ask for your password via email. There are at least two widely circulating emails (phishing attacks) that claim your account will be deactivated if you do not send your username and password. One of these specifically claims to be from "Support Team, University of Kansas." It is not. |
Back in October, there was a great kerfluffle regarding an out-of-band Microsoft patch. Most geek types refer to it as the "MS08-067" patch, but what you need to know is this: it's a very important patch for a very serious vulnerability in every flavor of the Windows operating system.
You may think that question is meant in a snarky manner, but I sincerely want to know: what's keeping you from switching to an alternate browser for your day-to-day browsing? Why do you put your computer and your data at risk by surfing to websites you don't (some might say can't) trust when there are 0day exploits out there just waiting to steal your data.
When I saw this morning's Dilbert, I knew it had to make an appearance here. I frequently wander through campus making mental notes of the systems (student, faculty, and staff) I see unlocked and unattended. Unless you know how to rig a wedgie machine, I recommend locking your workstation and setting an automatic timeout for when you forget!
The IT Security Office has seen an uptick of "tracking number" malspams (spam with malicious attachments). Here's the good news: our filters are doing a good job of catching these and stripping the attachments. Most people are reporting messages to us that look something like this:
