• 12/27 - Email uses “Support Greta Thunberg” as a lure to deliver Christmas malware. The malware-spreading spams exploits climate activist Greta Thunberg and uses subject lines like:

  • Greta Thunberg

  • Support Greta Thunberg - Time Person of the Year 2019

  • Please help save the planet

  • Demonstration 2019

It urges you to join an upcoming demonstration and, to find out more, open a Word document that’s either linked in the email or attached to it. It is an Emotet is a widespread malware family that seems to have evolved to fill a very specific cybercrime niche: delivering malware for other crooks.

Reminder: Don’t open attachments from unkown senders that you didn’t ask for and don’t turn off security

features because a popup tells you to.

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• 12/18 - Getting bombarded by scam calls? You’re not alone.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) scam is the number one scam reported to the FTC right now.

As soon as a caller threatens you, or demands you pay them with a gift card or by wiring money, it’s a scam. Even if the caller ID tells you otherwise.

If you get a call from someone claiming to be from the Social Security Administration, hang up the phone and remember:

-Your Social Security number is not about to be suspended.

-The real Social Security Administration will never call to threaten your benefits.

-The real SSA will never tell you to wire money, send cash, or put money on a gift card.

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• 11/19 - While it may appear as though the pop-ups are a component of the site you’re visiting, behind the scenes there is a complex network of advertisers, affiliates, and ad exchanges.

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Malicious advertising, or “malvertising” for short, has become a more common occurrence as bad actors have figured out how to infiltrate ad networks in order to serve up malicious content. And while there are steps that you can take, there is no simple way to fully protect yourself from malvertising.

The popup message above is one example of a recent malicious alert that attempts to trick the user into thinking their software is out-of-date. However, if you attempt to install the fake update, you may be infected with malware. Ensure you have a good anti-virus program installed.

• 10/17- Employee received a phone call and text simultaneously from"refund department of your computer company." Employee asked "What company is that?", they reply with "Your computer company." The best way to confirm this scam is to keep asking what the name of their company is. Usually they just hang up when you press the question.

• 8/1-Pre-recorded message saying that Microsoft/Windows will lock your account/computer if you don't call back to provide information. Microsoft will never call you unprompted asking for personal information.

• 6/1-Pre-recorded message saying that you are required to pay money that you owe to the IRS immediately or you will be arrested/detained. The IRS will always communicate through certified mail with anything pertaining to this type of issue.

• 10/22- E-mail scam that prompts you in the subject line of the e-mail with a password that may be legitimate. After grabbing your attention they go on to threaten you with leaking personal information unless you pay them in Bitcoin. They claim that they posses personal information that they took from your computer with malware.

• 10/24- Malware Scam: When you launch Microsoft Edge you will be prompted to enter your Windows user name and password. It prompts you with an alert from "Microsoft" that you have a virus and they have blocked your computer. It goes on to say that your Windows key is illegal and that you're using pirated software. You should never enter any credentials unless you have initiated the process to do so.

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