NEWS & SPECIALS
INSIGHT INFORMER - www.ii.auz.net December 2004

In this issue ...
• Christmas Edition • Online Shopping Security Tips
• AOL most popular searches • Phishing for Xmas Shoppers
• IE - Critical Patch Released • 2004: The Year of Netsky

Christmas Edition

Welcome to the last Insight Informer for 2004. We hope you have found these newsletters beneficial and our next edition will be out in February '05

Insight Integration will be open for business as usual during the Christmas and New Year period. So please feel free to call for any IT requirements.

The team at Insight Integration wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy, successful New Year.
AOL most popular searches

America Online has released its most popular search terms which are a good indication of what people really use the Internet for. The 'most searched' list includes
  • Word - Horoscope, followed lyrics and hairstyles
  • Person - Britney Spears followed by the rapper 50 Cent
  • Device - Mobile phones, followed by digital cameras and MP3 players.
  • TV show - American Idol followed by Oprah Winfrey and Survivor
  • News - The US election.
  • Sporting event - The World Series baseball
  • Athlete - Kobe Bryant (Basketball)
Internet Explorer - Critical flaw patch released

Microsoft has issued a new vulnerability patch for Internet Explorer 6 to plug up a new security hole. This hole can be exploited through specially designed web pages and would allow a hacker to installing programs, view/change/delete data and create new PC login accounts.

As always, the best policy is to regularly apply all Microsoft vulnerabilities.
Phishing for Christmas Shoppers

With the Christmas rush turning more people to on-line shopping, we are also seeing an increase in phishing e-mail attacks targeting these consumers. Worse still, most anti-spam & message security solutions can not stop them. Beware of any e-mails with links to web sites for on-line shopping!

Online Shopping Security Tips

The recent increases in Internet frauds and scams have scared many people away from On-line transactions. With good old common sense, the on-line shopper can still feel reasonably safe against these scams.
  1. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!
  2. If in doubt about an e-mail, use the phone!
  3. Don't click on links from e-mails unless it is from a known source.
  4. Beware of e-mails or web sites asking for personal, financial or identity information.
  5. Manually browse to web sites before updating account information to ensure it is not a fake site.
  6. Ensure a site is secured (VeriSign, TrustE, BBBOnline) before submitting information.
  7. Monitor your bank and credit card statements.
  8. Keep your Anti-virus and Firewall systems up to date and running
  9. Contact police if you think you've been defrauded
2004: The Year of Netsky

It's been a bad year for viruses, phishing attacks and Trojan bank-robbing which have caused no end of issues for IT professionals and end users alike.

'2004 will go down as the year of the Netsky as it was responsible for more than 50% of reported virus incidents. More than 30 versions of this worm arrived in February and 5 variants have now made the 2004 top 10 list.

Where in the past most viruses were prankster teenage children, we are now we're seeing businesses and criminal gangs get involved. 2004 has seen a sharp increase in viruses trying to steal money such as through Phishing e-mails that direct you to fake web sites. There's also been an explosion in computers being taken over to send spam and launch more attacks across the internet. AND it's only going to get worse in 2005.

But unlike previous years, 2004 has been a big year for catching the culprits with a number of high profile court cases coming up soon.
    Those caught this year:
  • The author of the Netsky and Sasser worms
  • The author of the Blaster worm;
  • Several alleged spammers
  • An alleged Australian phisher
  • 50 phishers from Brazil.
Lets hope we don't see too many of these people at seminars delivering key note speeches in the near future!

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FUN STUFF
Tip of the Month:
Want to create your own PDF (Acrobat format) files but not want the expense of purchasing Acrobat Writer? There are a number of inexpensive alternatives, some of which are even free to home users. Take a look at these:

PDF Creator

http://www.pdf995.com/


Quote of the Month:
"What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic."
-Uknown
USEFUL LINKS
Insight Integration
Webopedia
Proplams
Citrix
HP
Microsoft
Trend Micro
Conditions:
Any prices quoted exclude GST unless specified. These offers cannot be used with any other discounts. Prices and offers subject to change at any time without notice. Errors and omissions are excluded. Insight Integration standard terms and conditions apply.
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Archive News
— Newsletter - 09/11/04
— Newsletter - 14/10/04
— Newsletter - 08/12/03
— Newsletter - 10/11/03
— Newsletter - 03/10/03
— Newsletter - 09/09/03
— Newsletter - 07/08/03
— Newsletter - 04/07/03
— Newsletter - 05/05/03
— Newsletter - 23/04/03
— Newsletter - 20/03/03
— Newsletter - 03/03/03


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