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CyberArtisans Web Developers Newsletter |
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Our goal is to present information that will be useful to you as a website owner and as a user of the web. If these newsletters are useful, please forward this to a friend. To unsubscribe, follow the directions at the bottom of this email.
Is the world of Facebook, MySpace, Digg, and blogs a mystery to you? If so, you are probably over 30. Well, over 30 or not, these are things you need to learn about if you want to market to the generation that is now under 30, because this is where they go to get their guidance on what to buy. If you are willing to invest an hour learning about this, we recommend a webinar (a seminar presented on the web) that was given by an outfit called Hubspot on April 9th of this year. They were nice enough to put up a video of the presentation as well as a PDF of the accompanying slide show, and we highly recommend it as a good way to learn about this stuff. This link will take you to a page where you can either watch the video or download the presentation.
Some months ago we advised against downloading IE7. MS has apparently fixed most of the problems, so if you prefer Internet Explorer, IE7 is now the way to go. It is still more vulnerable than Firefox, but (according to the gurus) much more secure than IE6. The easiest way to get IE7 if you don't already have it is to go to the IE7 download page and follow the instructions there. Remember, even if you use Firefox, you can't assume you are free from security problems. All browsers have some security holes and Firefox is no exception. So when Firefox offers to update itself, let it do so – it's probably fixing a security hole. And remember to keep your antivirus and antispyware software up to date.
The most dangerous email these days contains no viruses, no spyware, not even an attachment. It is as dangerous to Mac users as it is to PC users. It is "phishing" email, and it uses the vulnerability of the recipient rather than some technological exploit to hurt its victims. Usually the email tries to make you believe that it is an urgent message from your financial institution, for example claiming that your account is about to be closed for some reason. Their intent is to get you to click on the link in the email and enter your username and password. Where you end up, of course, is not really the bank's website, although it will look like it. And you will be giving your account access information to someone who wants to steal your money. But you know all about that, right? They could never catch someone like you. Well, yes they could and yes they do. You're right, most of the time you wouldn't even consider opening that email. But what if they hit you at exactly the right time, say when you are in the middle of a serious financial crisis and feeling panicky. This email lands in your inbox and your first reaction is "Oh #$%*, I don't need more money problems!" and you decide to fix it immediately before it adds to your already scary problems. Without thinking you click on the link and type in your username and password. You may, at that point, realize your mistake, but it could already be too late. These thieves survive by statistics – perhaps only 0.01% of the recipients may be vulnerable to this scam at any given time, but if they send out enough email they'll hit enough people at the right moment to make money. And of course their odds of success increase as the economy gets tighter. An old pilot's trick is useful here. One rule they used to teach pilots is "The first thing to do in an emergency is wind the clock." Well OK, you no longer have to wind airplane clocks, which gives you some idea of the age of the advice, but the point is still valid – your first rushed reaction to a problem will most likely not be well thought-out. So if you do happen to get one of these phishing emails during a personal crisis, STOP. Do something mundane for a minute (like wind the clock) while you think things through. Then act.
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