Yet Another Computer Trojan – How to Stay Safe
I just wanted to write to warn you about an online Trojan that is going around right now, and offer you some online safety and privacy advice that can help keep you safe. Trojans are dangerous programs that can affect both Windows PCs as well as Apple’s Macs, and knowledge is the best tool to protect yourself.
The key thing to remember about Trojans is that they cannot get into your computer without YOU. It’s just like the original Trojan Horse from the old stories – the Greek soldiers couldn’t get into Troy until the citizens of Troy brought them in, past the defenses, hidden inside the wooden horse.
And just like the horse, modern Trojans look like a “gift”, but hide something dangerous inside. So if you know how to recognize them, then you’re safe. Let me tell you a little more so you know how the Trojan I’m talking about tries to trick you.
These things happen all the time, but this latest one is called “Trojan.Yontoo.1″ and it affects both Windows PCs as well as Apple Macs — and for those who might wonder desktop and laptop computers fundamentally work the same way, so both can be infected equally.
As is often (but not always) the case, this Trojan gets into your computer from a website that either was put up for the purpose of getting you to install the Trojan, or where the website has been “broken into” and changed to try to infect computers.
The way this Trojan uses to lure you in mainly seems to be the offer of a browser plugin that claims to let you watch movie trailers, but actually watches everything you do online and when it sees an opportunity, it changes webpages you’re visiting by replacing normal ads with ads that make the criminals money.
Browser plugins are perfectly common and usually helpful pieces of software that add new features to web pages and to improve your web browsing experience in some way. Unfortunately just like any tool can be put to good or bad use, the wrong browser plugins can be dangerous.
You should remember that movie trailers (or any video) often can play without a plugin at all, or if they do need a plugin it will be Adobe Flash Player.
So if you see a website that tries to get you to install a special plugin or player to watch the videos on the site and it is not Adobe Flash Player, get out of there.
Of course, what if a criminal just lies and says their dangerous fake video player plugin is Flash Player?
While this Trojan scam does not seem to do that, it is very possible others could. One way to figure out if you’re actually installing a legitimate copy of Flash Player is by paying attention to your address bar.
The address bar (or location bar) is of course the bar at the top of every web browser window which shows the address of the site and page you are currently viewing. For example if you are reading this on my site, you can look at the top of the window and you should see worthgodwin.com/basic-computer-training/ as that is the location of my blog.
Remember, you only get Adobe Flash Player from one place:
get.adobe.com/flashplayer/
If a website tries to have you install a plugin to watch videos you should be suspicious and read carefully. If it’s telling you to install Flash Player it is probably legitimate — but only if it sends you away from that site to Adobe’s website!
If it tries to install from anywhere else, don’t install it.
I hope that makes sense.
Remember that every single Trojan relies on your lack of knowledge to take advantage of you!
Literally the only way to stay safe is to better understand your computer and how to use it properly. Most people lack basic skills and knowledge that put them at risk.
Instagram Selling Your Photos & Other Risks of Posting Online
The online world is abuzz with news of the photo sharing service Instagram (recently acquired by Facebook) which has changed its terms of service to allow for the possible sale of people’s photos — without the photographer making a penny. This is just the latest example of a problem I’ve been trying to educate people about for years now: who owns your information when you post it online?
I’ve just posted this audio lesson which you can listen to and learn more about this problem, which affects everyone who posts anything online such as photos, Facebook or Twitter posts, etc., as well as potentially people who store information online in online “cloud” storage, and the many people who use web-based email services such as Yahoo Mail, Gmail, and so on.
I recorded this audio lesson a couple of years ago, and I’ve talked about the problem in recorded lessons as well as here on my newsletter, and it seems like finally people out there are starting to wake up to this.
If you’re not familiar with
Answering Computer Question: How Safe Is It to Use the Cloud?
In my last post I gave you a non-technical explanation of what the cloud is. I had a student named Ronald write to ask me about whether it was a good idea to use cloud services. He said:
How to Use Tabbed Browsing To Make Computers Easier
This is one of my earliest video lessons, recorded back in 2006, which I just edited and updated slightly. It’s part of my Safe & Easy Internet course, and (aside from references to shopping for DVD Players) has helpful tips that still apply just as much today as they did when I first recorded the lesson, and will be helpful for years to come.
What Do Beliefs, Baseball & Wasps Have to Do With Learning Computers?
What we believe about ourselves, and the identities like “computer dummy” (or “computer genius” for that matter) have a profound effect on what we are able to achieve. In this video lesson I share a story of when I did a dumb thing when I was a kid, what I learned from it as an adult, and how that lesson can help you become more confident and empowered with the modern world.
Is Your Computer at Risk from Tojans?
I’ve mentioned the threat of computer “trojans” before (here’s a link to a video lesson I recorded last year about protecting yourself from a common type of trojan). There’s a new type of trojan circulating now that I thought I’d take the opportunity to teach you about today.
Briefly, a trojan is a maliciously written program designed to infect computers. It is sort of similar to a computer virus, but worms generally try to trick you into installing them by making you think they’re something you want or need to install. Check out the video in the link to learn more about how they work and how to stay safe from them.
This particular threat I’m writing about is a new type in the sense that it is new to the Mac world, but it’s a type of threat that has existed for many many years on the Windows side of things.
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