Credit:1000Words /Shutterstock.comTHIS ISSUE’S EXPERT:
Leonid Grustniy,
Security Analyst
at Kaspersky
(www.kaspersky.co.uk)12 7 - 20August 2019 Email us your security questions [email protected]
QWhat’s the best
way to deal
with tech-
support phone scams?
Andrew Beesley, FacebookAOne day you
receive aphone
call fromsomeone
who addressesyou by
name andintroduces
themselves asa tech-
support specialist of aRansomware attacks on
the rise in the UK
The UK
was the
biggest
global
targetfor
ransomware
attacks in the first half of 2019,
accordingto a reportby security
company SonicWall, with the number
of incidents rising 195%.
The reportstates that therewere
6.4 millionattacks in the first six
months of theyear, which the
companyattributesto a growing
preference among criminalsfor
‘ransomware as a service’, aswell
as open-source malware kits
becoming cheaper and more
readilyavailable online.
While ransomware soared in the
UK, malware detections have been
fallingoverall in 2019,followinga
record-breaking 2018 that saw 10.5 2large softwarecompany.
They tell you your computer
has serious problemsthat
needurgent attention,
andthat to fix them
you must install a
special program
andgive the
caller remote
access. What
could go wrong?
In the best-case
scenario, such “support”
will pretend to repair your
PCandthen chargeyou a
fortune. In the worst,the
criminals will stealyour
financial data andtry to
withdraw money fromyour
bank account.
Generally speaking, you
should never give anyoneou don’t know
emote access to
our PC. Most
tech-support reps
can solve your
problemsover the
phone or by email.
If someonecalls you
out of the blue andasks for
access to your computer,
you shouldn’t expect any
goodto comeof it.
Never listen to scammers
and never give credence to
their threats – feel freeto say
no. If someoneclaimsto have
detected suspicious activityon your computer, scan it
using reliable antivirus
softwareto locate and
neutralisemalware –if
there is any.
Also note the caller’s
phone number andsearch
for it online to see if you
find any information about
the criminals on the web. If
it’s not already listed, you
can addthe phone number
to a database of scam and
spam numbers, which may
alert otherusers andhelp
themavoid being tricked
by the scammers.News about the latest threats and advice from security experts
Stay Safe OnlineSECURITY ALERT! |What’s been bothering us this fortnight
Security Helpdesk|Your questions answered by security specialistsbillionattacksworldwide.The US and the
UK arestill the mostattacked nations,
but bothexperienced drops in the
number ofattacks against them, with the
exception of encrypted malwareattacks.
So far in 2019,researchers have detected
2.4 million encryptedattacks, which is
almost the same number detectedfor
the entireyear of 2018 (2.8 million).
bit.ly/ransomGoogle pays $13 million for
illegal datagathering
Google is setto pay millions of dollarsto
end a protracted legal battleover
allegations of privacy violation through
its Street Viewmapping project.
The search giant’s fleet of geo-
mappingvehicles unwittinglycollected
masses of data from unprotectedWi-Fi
connections whileroaming thestreets.
Harvested information included email
addresses and passwords,even though
Google said it only intendedto gather
datato improvelocation-based services.Google is nowexpectedto pay $
million (£10.4 million)to end a privacy
lawsuit launchedby 22 plaintiffs who
were affectedby the data harvesting.
The debacle cameto a head in 2010
when Google admitted it had“screwed
up”by accidentally taking the data,
but Privacy International accused
Google of doing so intentionally.
As part of the settlement, Google
promisedto destroy any data itstill
holds, andto teachweb users howto
better protect their privacy online.
See ourfeature on page 40for more
aboutStreet Viewprivacy.
bit.ly/streetNevergive anyone whocalls out of the
ueremote access to your PCy
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