Don’t Click That Link
and other security tips…
Laura Perry
Jennifer Speegle Mike Trice
About Us
• Laura Perry – Information Security
• Jennifer Speegle– Firewall Administrator
• Mike Trice – Network Engineer
Mail vs. Email vs. URL
Mail address:
Laura Perry
Alabama Supercomputer Center 686 Discovery Drive
Huntsville, AL 35806
Email address:
URL (Uniform Resource Locator): http://www.asc.edu/
What does it mean?
lperry – who?
@ - at
asc – which organization?
.edu – which domain?
• Common Domains
International Domains
– .ca, .uk, .au (Canada, United Kingdom, Australia)
– .ru – Russia – .br – Brazil – .kg – Kyrgyzstan – .cn – China – .ua – Ukraine – .fi – Finland – .lv – Latvia – .nl - Netherlands
Unless you are specifically expecting email from
someone you know who lives in one of these
countries, be very
suspicious of anything from any of these domains.
Where .ru?
• Why does this matter???
• Do you check return addresses on regular mail?
• Do you check return addresses on email?
Go Phish
• Bad guys camouflage their phishing as the sort
of messages we expect to receive
• Look for slight irregularities in wording,
spelling or the appearance of images
• Don’t click on the links!
• If you think the warning is genuine, either call
the service provider or type the provider URL
yourself
Stinky Phish
• A warning that your email account will be disabled if you don’t respond.
• An email or text from a loved one saying they need money urgently.
• Someone you never met wants you to deposit their money in your account.
• You just won a prize for something you didn’t enter. • Here is a receipt for something you didn’t buy.
– The “receipt” may not be a document but a program that will install a virus on your computer.
Note the “From” address: [email protected] is
probably NOT your system administrator
When you hover over the hyperlink, the actual URL doesn’t match the text
When you hover over the Accept button, the actual URL is
volunteeryouthministry.com and NOT LinkedIn!
Who is Chasity Jeffers and why is she sending an invitation for Gregory Rice?
[email protected] is NOT your system administrator!
http://lojadopolicial.com.br is not your email
administration system! Remember what I said about the .br domain? Beware!
Uh oh! This one actually came from a valid email address in your school system. Now what?
This could be bad… Most spam blockers will trust Google docs. If you click on this and enter the
requested info, your
account will immediately start sending spam emails.
Your Friend Got Hacked
It has your friend’s name, but that’s not the right
email address. See the .nl? Beware!
Your Bank Transfer Failed
This looks legitimate at first glance, but the
wording is just a little off…
Wait – this link doesn’t add up.
Why is there a
dropbox.com link inside a google.com link?
Please See My Resume
“I got the email below asking about internships, but when I tried to view the resume got errors about macros in the document. I told it to open with macros disabled, but it wouldn’t display anything.”
What’s the Big Deal?
• Identity theft – you just gave someone your login id and password!
– Hacker sends phishing email from your account to your contacts – Hacker can look for other account credentials in your email
– Bank account compromise
• Malware installed on your computer:
– APT – Advanced Persistent Threat software installed on your computer without your knowledge
– Key logging – see everything you type
• Web site redirection – send you to malicious site even if you type a “good” URL
Is My PC Infected?
Common signs of malware on your computer:
• Undelivered email notifications in your inbox to unknown email addresses.
– Bots will frequently use email accounts to send out spam. – Spam to unknown email addresses will result in a “failure
to deliver” notification in your inbox.
• You see pop-up windows even when not using a web browser.
• You are unable to download or install antivirus software or updates.
More Signs of Infection
• Multiple toolbars on your web browser.
– Bots will frequently install various toolbars to help collect search information from your web browser.
– Malware search toolbar can direct you to malicious sites.
• Unusual error messages.
– Error messages that say applications cannot run or drives cannot be accessed can be indications of a bot infection.
Know Your System
• Do you know what Antivirus (AV) product is loaded on your system?
• We have all seen the pop-ups saying our system is infected and to click here to load/protect our system. • By knowing the AV product loaded on your system
you will be able to tell if this is a false pop-up attempting to get you to install malware.
• Most of these products are loaded with spyware, adware, viruses, or trojans.
Know the Policy
• Check with your Tech Coordinator to find out your school system’s policy on cleaning compromised systems.
• Depending on the policy or level of infection you may or may not be able to recover items from an infected system.
• Based on this and your system’s backup strategies you may need to implement a personal backup
More Policy Issues
• Should you use your personal laptop on the school network?
– What are the implications if you introduce malware onto the school network?
• Should you use your work laptop at home?
• Do you copy files between home and work computers using a USB drive?
Beware of Imposters
• Avoid tech support phone scams:
– Microsoft will NEVER call you!
– NEVER give your user name or password to anyone who calls you. – If you suspect something is wrong with your computer, call your
System Administrator or Help Desk.
• Avoid credit card warning scams
– Your credit card provider MAY call you to report suspicious activity. – NEVER give your credit card number, expiration, CVV or pin number
to anyone who calls you!
– To be safe, hang up and call your bank or call the customer support number printed on your card.
Is Your Password Safe
• Do you use a strong P@$$w0rd?
• Many places recommend a password that is 8
characters long containing 2 uppers, 2 lowers,
2 numbers, and 2 special characters.
• Think of your password like the lock on your
front door. You want to make it difficult for the
bad guys to get through that door.
Worst Passwords
Information from: http://splashdata.com/press/worstpasswords2013.htm
123456 password 12345678 qwerty abc123 123456789 111111 1234567 iloveyou adobe123 123123 admin 1234567890 letmein photoshop 1234 monkey shadow sunshine 12345 password1 princess azerty trustno1 000000 Bama#1 Saban Roll Tide! Aubie War Eagle!
Password Tips
Depending on your school system’s password policy you can use one of these examples to easily come up with a complex password you can remember:
• Turn a sentence into a password: “This little piggy went to market” might become "tlpWENT2m"
• Use a password you can change regularly (but still remember easily) such as #Jun$Cmh2015
More Password Tips
• If you do write down your password, place it in a secure locked location.
– A post-it note under your keyboard is not secure!
• Use an online password management tool.
• Use different passwords for different sites. If one password is compromised your other accounts won’t be affected.
• A longer password is a stronger password. Each
additional character may add an exponential amount of time for cracking especially if you avoid common words or patterns.
Wi-Fi Concerns
• Where are you?
– At the local coffee shop on their wireless network – On travel on the hotel wireless
– At home on your wireless network
– On the school public wireless network
• Are you sure the network you are connecting to is trusted?
– Ask a worker for the name of the provided Wi-Fi network
• What sites are you going to, and what data is available if your account gets hacked?
When to Use Encryption
• Virtual Private Networks (VPNs)
– Upside: Secure access to remote resources
– Downside: You are now on the remote network
– Sometimes not all traffic is encrypted when using a VPN.
Is Your VPN Client Connected?
• When using a VPN client look for the VPN
icon and hover over it to get a status.
Is Your Connection Secure?
• When surfing the web, look for the
in the
Why Can’t I Get to xyz.com?!?
• Did you get a block page? • This is a content filter
message, not a firewall issue.
– Talk to your network
administrator and tell them that you got a block page
• Getting the block page is not the same as not
getting a response from the server.
How Did Little Johnny Get to that Site?
• Little Johnny is using:
– Web proxy to access sites that are normally blocked
– Remote access to his home computer
– Cell phone hotspot
Web Proxies
• Very difficult to block web proxies because
they are constantly changing
– Alert your network administrator
• Very easy for kids to setup at home or find on
the internet
Why Can’t I Access My Home
Computer From School?
• This is most likely a firewall issue.
– Check your IT policy
– Ask your local system/network administrator
• Firewalls either block or deny traffic.
• Connections that work sporadically are not
likely a firewall issue, but more likely a server
issue.
Home Wi-Fi
• Change your administrator password and login
name if possible
• Enable encryption
– WEP is old and easily hacked – WPA2 is newer and better