WARNING: Large scale cyber attack will hit in 2 weeks, be prepared!!!

[ukcomputers]

You may have seen it in the news over the last couple of days and it's extremely important you take action now before it's too late. A huge cyber attack on unprecedented scale is going to be carried out within 2 weeks!

You need to prepare yourself NOW or you are at risk of losing money, personal files and data.

What to do:

- carry out virus and malware check on all your computers

- make sure your security is software is working and is up to date

- make sure your operating system is up to date

- back up all your important data to external device (HDD, DVD-R or memory stick)

- back up your operating system to make sure you have a recovery copy should things go wrong

PLEASE DO NOT IGNORE THIS AS IT IS A VERY REAL THREAT, EVERYONE IS AT RISK!!!!!

If you do not know how to go about protecting yourself we are happy to help, just give us a call or drop us a line to book an appointment.

Regards,

Pawel

http://ukcomputers.eu

office@ukcomputers.eu

020 3086 7882

[DulwichFox]

Important to pay special attention to incoming mail and attachments.

People using Twitter should be careful opening Direct Messages. Even Mouse over text can be a threat.

Same goes for Facebook Games. A serious risk of any virus spreading through interactive games with other users.

Even if you 'know' them.

Anywhere where you have Followers / Friends / Contacts.

DulwichFox

[Salsaboy]

And don't forget the threat from Y3K, scheduled to hit in the year 3000. Advance planning essential!

[Mustard]

How can you know that this is supposed to happen within 2 weeks?

[PokerTime]

More info here....

http://news.sky.com/story/1274201/cyber-attack-to-hit-in-next-two-weeks

I guess the advice is the same as always. Don't open attachments or links sent by anyone but genuine contacts. Most people have junk folders full of emails trying to steal account details. I just delete them.

The only worrying thing from the article is the ability to hide the malware in a genuine looking email from a genuine contact. But even there, there would have to be a link to click I'm guessing, or an attachment.

Here's a more rational take....

http://news.sky.com/story/1274437/how-serious-is-ominous-global-cyber-threat

[Sean Of Dulwich]

Oh My

[Loz]

I would have hoped an 'expert' would not be engaging in scare tactics like this to try and drum up business.

There will be no 'cyber attack in two weeks'. What will happen is that a cyber threat that existed up until about a week or so ago (and has done for about 12 months) will again be a danger. That's not to say that you should not be prepared, get all your OSs and virus checkers up to date and be cautious of any unusual emails, but the world is not going to end in two weeks (well, not by CryptoLocker, anyway).

Pretty unprofessional behaviour by the OP, IMHO.

[aalisam]

Please qualify info by stating the following areas are effected.

PC Microsoft platforms

And /or

Apple IOS

Many thanks

[edcam]

Is this on the Mayan calendar?

[Loz]

aalisam Wrote:

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> Please qualify info by stating the following areas

> are effected.

>

> PC Microsoft platforms

>

> And /or

>

> Apple IOS

>

> Many thanks

Only Windows (all flavours) are currently affected by the issue. That's not to say Mac, Linux and/or smart phone users may be at risk later, but it's only windows at the moment.

The major way this gets you is by opening infected email attachments. Be on your guard, especially anything marked as a PDF from an unexpected source. And keep your virus checker up to date.

[JohnL]

I think this is a plan to get people out of the botnets rather than a real danger.

[binary_star]

ukcomputers Wrote:

----------------------------------------------

> - back up all your important data to external device (HDD, DVD-R or memory stick)

DVD-R!!!

Haven't seen one of those in about 5-7yrs...

Mac. Cloud. Done.

That's three steps. Well two, really.

[Loz]

I've still got a few CD-R's lying around the place...

[PokerTime]

Depends how many files someone has. Computer savvy people tend to use external hard drives. Those who aren't savvy may well still use DVDrs or worse still never back up. Some people use online backup services too. If everyone knew the ins and outs of their computers there'd be no need for repairs services. Macs are well beyond the budget of most people. So the more people are reminded of how to best protect themselves from any kind of virus, bot, trojan etc, the better.

Having said all that though, most virus problems can be removed by taking the hard drive out, connecting it to another computer and running a scan on it as an external drive. And most personal files can easily be recovered the same way, if only the OS is corrupted. If registries are corrupted it becomes a little more tricky.

[pps]

wow a spot on time. can i have tomorrows lotto numbers please :)

[Loz]

Same here, PT. I have about half a TB of data, so cloud storage would be expensive. I keep a few things on OneDrive (was SkyDrive), but mostly I have a home NAS with ownCloud on it that I back up to external drive.

I am just configuring it to to a backup non-music/film data to a non-visible area of itself so that, should something like CryptoLocker hit, I can get get my more dynamic data back fast.

[PokerTime]

Sounds like a good plan.

I have four 2TB external drives I use on my laptop. What I tend to do is copy a file to my laptop HD if I want to work on it/ play it/ watch it etc, and keep the external drives disconnected the rest of the time. The chances then of anything corrupting those files is pretty much nil. I'm just as careful with my mac too. Whilst macs may be less susceptible to viruses, they are still capable of OS corruption and other software problems from time to time.

I guess it's just about getting into a habit of working in a way that minimises the risk of losing anything.

[El Pibe]

"The chances then of anything corrupting those files is pretty much nil."

Just don't put them near your speakers!

Plus the chances of a traditional hard drive failing are much higher than nil.

[binary_star]

Loz Wrote:

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> Same here, PT. I have about half a TB of data, so cloud storage would be expensive.

I'm considering Crashplan - unlimited storage from $4/month seems pretty reasonable to me: http://www.code42.com/crashplan

Free off site and continuous backup.

[root]

Have one of those DVD writers which using the appropriate disks promise archival that would outlive the user:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M-DISC

My daily data is rsynced over an encrypted tynnel to an encrypted disk on a hosted server.

Not sure what the OP is about though ... sounds a bit like Chicken Licken. But then again I don't use Windows ... wouldn't have a clue.

[PokerTime]

That's why audio visual and pc equipment is shielded though El Pibe.

It pays to buy better drives of course. Again if a drive does fail, it can be recovered providing the disk surface isn't damaged.

Crashplan does look good. 4 bucks is no money at all, esp for unlimited storage.

[Loz]

That CrashPlan does look good, especially as it supports Linux, so I can backup straight from the NAS.

[njc97]

Loz, pretty harsh to describe the original post as "scare tactics to drum up business" when he was repeating NCA advice:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27681236

[root]

njc97 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Loz, pretty harsh to describe the original post as

> "scare tactics to drum up business" when he was

> repeating NCA advice:

> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27681236

It is scare tactics. Blanket assumption that everyone is using windows and everyone is at risk.

My feelings are now ... cough ... hurt

[Loz]

njc97 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Loz, pretty harsh to describe the original post as

> "scare tactics to drum up business" when he was

> repeating NCA advice:

> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-27681236

Actually, they original advice from the NCA was far less hysterical.

http://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/news-listings/386-two-week-opportunity-for-uk-to-reduce-threat-from-powerful-computer-attack

So, either

a) the original post was, indeed, scare tactics to drum up business, or

b) they don't understand the nature of the problem, and so shouldn't be offering to help people.