Online Scams are on the rise as indicated by many of the major media sites. These attacks are becoming more frequent as our economy is in a downturn. More and more people are finding themselves in dire straits and are falling for get quick rich scams.

How do you know what’s safe and what’s not? In most cases you are at risk, and you may not even know it. Don’t fall victim to these scams or cyber attacks and surf the web with protection. 

WOT (Web of Trust) is a free Internet security addon for your browser. It will keep you safe from online scams, identity theft, spyware, spam, viruses and unreliable shopping sites.

The Top 5 Online Email Scams

1. Phishing scams
Phishing emails try to trick you into visiting a fraudulent website disguised to look like a valid eCommerce or banking site. The victim thinks they are logging into their real account, but instead everything they enter on the fake site is being sent to the scammers.

2. Greeting Card Scams
Greeting card scams arrive in email pretending to be from a friend or family member. Clicking the link to view the card typically leads to a booby-trapped web page that downloads Trojans and other malicious software onto the systems of the unsuspecting.

3. Pump and Dump Stock Scams
Pump and dump scams send large volumes of email that pretend to disclose confidential information about a particular stock in an attempt to inflate the price. The person initiating this has in most cases bought the stock at a lesser value hoping this scam will drive the price higher so they can dump it and make a quick profit.

4. Lottery Winning Scams
Lottery winner scams attempt to trick recipients into believing they have won large sums of cash and need you to provide personal information in order to receive your cash payout. The victims will find out that their bank accounts have been cleaned out instead.

5. Rogue Antispyware / Fake Antivirus
Rogue software erroneously claims the system is infected and instructs the user to purchase a ‘full version’ in order to clean the bogus infections. You will see these messages pop up in the bottom right of your screen. Sometimes, fake antivirus software gets installed by the user who may have fallen victim to an advertising scam. Other times, a rogue antispyware scanner may be installed by exploit, a so called ‘drive-by install’.

Download WOT today and protect you and your family!

Check out our previous posts about WOT (Web of Trust)

http://www.techjaws.com/surf-safer-with-wot/
http://www.techjaws.com/fake-anti-malware-products-threaten-internet-users/
http://www.techjaws.com/how-safe-is-your-email/
http://www.techjaws.com/fake-anti-malware-products-threaten-internet-users/

Your site may have been already targeted by hackers who are using automated tools to find most common vulnerabilities. If they find one, they will inject harmful code that will attack your loyal visitors and guests.

To help keep your site safe, start with some quick, free scans that ferret out the most obvious problems. First, fill out a form at Qualys.com to request a free scan of one IP address. Discover all devices and applications across the network, and identify and eliminate the security threats that make network attacks possible.

Next, download the also-free Scrawlr tool from HP. After a quick install, use Scrawlr to scan your site for SQL injection vulnerabilities (a type of hole targeted in a recent Sony site hack).

A clean bill of health from both scans won’t guarantee that your site is safe. For instance, neither will find problems with custom JavaScript code, another common type of attack. And while requesting or running either scan is easy, fixing a reported hole might involve a fair bit of work. But that job will still take far less work than repairing your site and your reputation after your site has been hijacked.

Take the extra steps to keeping your site and your visitors safe from harmful cyber attacks.

Let’s us know your thoughts and what you have done to check your web site.