New York SBDC Research Network

How much is everything on your computer worth to you? About $300? The criminals behind a new malware program are betting on it. The Federal Trade Commission, the FBI and other federal agencies are warning consumers and businesses about “Cryptolocker,” a malware program that holds the files on your computer for ransom, and doesn’t allow you to access them until you pay up. Even then, there’s no guarantee. It’s essentially extortion, with all your personal documents, photos, and files at risk. Cryptolocker is spread mostly through email and “drive-by” downloads. The email might look like a routine message from a legitimate company, like a tracking notice from a shipping company. If you click on the hyperlink in the email, Cryptolocker encrypts everything on your hard drive and in your shared folders. When the job is done, you get a “ransom note” demanding payment via Bitcoin or some other anonymous payment method. The criminals behind this malware say they’ll give you the encryptio...

Flu information from the US Centers for Disease Control and the NY State Dept of Health The Web 2.0 Guide to Swine Flu from Salon Should You Fear Swine Flu? from About.com."No, but a healthy respect is called for." Apparently, pork producers were peeved that the original appellation was problematic in promoting their product , partially causing the name change. Others were bothered as well. How to Wash Your Hands From the techies at UAlbany: As the Swine Flu story unfolds, we anticipate that scammers and cyber thieves will try to take advantage of the interest in this topic by sending out phishing messages and malicious attachments that purport to contain information and updates about the illness. The US-Computer Emergency Response Team has already issued the first alerts about such messages being circulated. In this case, the message contained a malicious .pdf file called "swine influenza frequently asked questions.pdf."