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Security

Warning: New SARS, ABSA & eBucks phishing email

Tuesday, September 18th, 2012

If you receive an email claiming to be from ABSA regarding a payment from SARS or eBucks (see examples below), do not open it or click on any of the links. These are phishing emails attempting to acquire your passwords and other information. Immediately delete these emails and do not reply to them.

From: Absa Bank [mailto:lis@absa.co.z]
Sent: 18 September 2012 08:29 AM
To: …
Subject: SARS E-filing Payment Received

Dear Client,

A payment has been made into your account from SARS e-filing
In other to process and confirm this payment please do click here to login.
During this process, your RVN will be checked and verified.

Regards,

From: Absa Internet Banking [mailto:payment@absa.co.za]
Sent: 19 September 2012 15:01
To:
Subject: Payment Made To Your Online Banking!!

Absa Bank

Online Payment Made

Dear Customer,

A payment has been made to your account. To view the details of the payment, please click here to login. and enter the RVN that will be sent to your cellphone. please contact our support centreon 0860 123 000 . If you are calling from outside South Africa, call +27 11 299 4701 .

Our consultants are available between 8am and 9pm on weekdays, and 8am and 4pm on weekends and public holidays.

The Internet banking Team

Moving Forward

Copyright Absa. All rights reserved.
Absa of South Africa Limited (Reg. No. 1962/000738/06). Authorised financial services provider. Registered credit provider (NCRCP15).

Disclaimer and confidentiality note:
Everything in this email and any attachments relating to the official business of Absa Group Limited is proprietary to the group.
It is confidential, legally privileged and protected by law. Absa does not own and endorse any other content.
The person addressed in the email is the sole authorised recipient.
Please notify the sender immediately if it has unintentionally reached you and do not read disclose or use the content in any way.

Absa cannot assume that the integrity of this communication has been maintained nor that it is free of errors, virus, interception or interference.
For our privacy policy or information about the Absa group visit our website at www.absa.co.za.

Absa email disclaimer and confidentiality note

Please go to http://www.absabank.co.za/ site/homepage/emaildisclaimer. html to read our email disclaimer and confidentiality note. Kindly email disclaimer@absabank.co.za (no content or subject line necessary) if you cannot view that page and we will email our email disclaimer and confidentiality note to you.

From: eBucks Credit [mailto:credit@ebucks.com]
Sent: 25 September 2012 11:56 AM
To:
Subject: eBucks Reward: You have earned a eBucks points !!!

Alert

We have detected unusual activity on this account and for your security are temporarily blocking access. To regain access to this account, please click here.

If you are unable to login, contact Member Services at 1-877-786-0722 for further assistance.

Tags: bank emails, email, phishing
Posted in E-mail, Security | Comments Off on Warning: New SARS, ABSA & eBucks phishing email

Spam – not just processed meat

Friday, September 14th, 2012

Spam, or junk mail is defined as identical, disruptive e-emails sent to a large amount of e-mail or cellphone users. When a receiver clicks on one of the links in the message, he/she is diverted to a phishing website or websites containing malware. Spam e-mails can also contain hidden malware scripts. The opposite of spam is, believe it or not, ham. In other words e-mails you WANT to receive.

The origin of the meaning of spam in this context, can be laid at the feet of the obscure British comedians known as Monty Python. In a 1970 sketch a group of Vikings in a restaurant starts chanting the word “spam” so incessantly that no-one else can have a conversation. Click here if you’d like to see the original Monty Python sketch where the word “spam” is mentioned 132 keer times in a mere three and a half minutes.

Even Google is amused by die word. The company once hid a surprise in their gmail users’ spam folder. When you clicked on your Spam folder, a webclip containing a variety of recipes for the original variety of spam. Amongst others recipes for “Spam Primavera”, “Spam Swiss Pie”, “Creamy Spam Broccoli Casserole” and “Spam Veggie Pita Pockets”. The first spam was sent on 3 May 1978 to advertise a new computer system. It was sent to 600 ARPANET users and all 600 names were typed in by hand from a printed document. You can read the original e-mail here.

It is estimated that, from August 2010, 200 billion spam messages are sent per day. Lucky for Stellenbosch campus users, we have a fairly strict spam filer and huge amounts of spam bypass your inbox every day. If you still receive unnecessary spam, there are ways to decrease it even more. If it makes you feel any better though – according to Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO, Bill Gates receives four million e-mails a year and most of it’s spam.

SOURCES: http://blog.emailaddressmanager.com, http://mashable.com & www.wikipedia.org

Tags: email, phishing, spam
Posted in E-mail, General, Security | Comments Off on Spam – not just processed meat

Password synchronisation giving you a headache?

Friday, August 31st, 2012

Every 90 days you receive an email from helpinfo@sun.ac.za asking you nicely to change your password. We all know that, although it’s a bit of a nuisance, it’s also necessary for security reasons. But is there a way to simplify the process?

In 2007 Microsoft Research conducted a study and found that the average user has 6.5 internet passwords, each person has approximately 25 accounts with passwords and has to enter 8 passwords per day. And this was in 2007 – imagine what the statistics will look like 5 years later.

If you use more than one device, password changes can become a nightmare. But there are a few steps you can follow to make sure it goes a bit smoother.

Switch off all your devices except for one, for example your laptop.

Sign on at http://www.sun.ac.za/useradm, select the Change Password option and select a new password according to the guidelines supplied on the website. Log out of the network with the Logout option given on http://www.sun.ac.za/useradm. Log onto the network with your new password. Make sure you can access all your network applications – email, internet and networkspace. Switch on all the other devices and type in your new password.

Remember, you can change your password any time at http://www.sun.ac.za/useradm with the Change Password option. Try to stick to the guidelines to ensure you have a secure password – it will safe you a lot of effort and frustration in the long run. If you’ve forgotten your password, you can also reset is by browsing to staff portal.

More information and hints on password changes can be found at https://stbsp01.stb.sun.ac.za/innov/it/it-help/Wiki%20Pages/Change%20password.aspx

Tags: forgot password, password, selfhelp
Posted in E-mail, Internet, Security | Comments Off on Password synchronisation giving you a headache?

Spam warning

Monday, July 16th, 2012

All users should beware of the latest spam email in circulation. This new attempt at sourcing your information seems like an email from an IT department
informing you that you mail box is over it’s limit and prompting you to go to a website.

Please ignore and delete any emails of this nature. (see below for an example)

From: Brown, Jackie [mailto:Jackie.Brown@cbexchange.com]
Sent: 13 July 2012 12:15 PM
Subject: Technical Team

You have reached the storage limit on your mailbox.

You will not be able to send or receive new mail until you upgrade your email account.

Please Click/visit http://www…………. to fill your emaill upgrade form.

System Administrator

Posted in E-mail, Security | Comments Off on Spam warning

Why wait? Change now!

Thursday, June 7th, 2012

Every 90 days your pc prompts you to change your password. Which in turn makes you sigh with despair, conveniently ignore the message and postpone it until the absolute last day. And why? Because choosing a password you won’t forget after two days takes some effort and brain power.

Passwords are like taxes, municipal fees and ridiculous bank fees – frustrating, but necessary. (ok, maybe they’re not all necessary, but you get my point.)

Your best solution? Just change it immediately and you won’t be confronted by a looming “your password expires in x days” message every day. To make the process as fast and painless as necessary, we have a few suggestions.

When your pc prompts you to change your password, go directly to http://www.sun.ac.za/useradm. Before you change your password, log out of your Inetkey and Outlook to make the synchronisation easier. If possible, don’t change your password while connected via wireless. Rather use your network cable and deactivate the wireless.

If you only use your pc at home and it’s not connected to the network, the change of passwords will only apply to your email and Inetkey. The initial password on your pc will therefore not be changed unless it’s on the network. For passwords to synchronise correcly, a pc/laptop has to be connected to one of the US domains.

This week 6.5 million LinkedIn accounts were hacked into and this one again emphasises the necessity for strong passwords.

In particular take note of the following:

you can’t use your previous 10 passwords again.
your new password can not consist of your username, name or any variation of your current password.
your passwords have to consist of 8 or more characters.
passwords have to consist of at least 3 characters of the following groups: small caps, capital letters, numbers and special characters. (for example %,$,#)

When you change your password on http://www.sun.ac.za/useradm, also change it accordingly on all your other devices (cellphone, tablet, etc.) If you don’t have your other devices with you and they are connected to the internet at home, ask someone to switch it off for you while your are changing the password. Also immediately switch off your device (pc, tablet or cellphone) after you’ve changed your password successfully to ensure it synchronises successfully.

If you changed your password and it hasn’t updated fast enough on your cellphone or tablet, reset the password to the latest one and contact IT to unlock your account. This will prevent you from having to change your password again.

Tags: password
Posted in General, Security | 3 Comments »

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