Here we are, the beginning of the second quarter of 2016, the first quarter ended and I hope this finds all doing well. I have heard it takes nearly 4 months to pay the government for its year so we still have a bit to go. I wanted to share with my friends and associates some information that I thought would be very helpful in preventing some of these master criminals on the internet from taking some of our hard earned assets. One of the more prevalent strategies being used is spreading Microsoft Word Macros in E-mails. The key thing they want you to do is to open an e-mail attachment that will run a script to encrypt files on your computer which results in them being locked until you pay their ransom or you restore the files. It is very important to have good backup of all your files whether they are located on your computer, on a server or in the cloud. These e-mail messages will have an attachment in the e-mail that looks like something that you need to open. It may be disguised as an invoice or a picture or maybe something from law enforcement suggesting you are guilty of something that they will remove if you pay their online fees. The key thing is that they want you to open the file, DON’T DO IT. If you receive e-mails from the following types of e-mails, don’t open them, check with the sender if you are unsure by some other means, phone, fax or text. 1.Messages from some type of Nigerian Prince or Princess. 2.Message from your bank requesting confirmation of passwords (Banks never do this) 3.Messages that you have won something and need to pay a fee first. 4.Invoices or statements that you are not expecting, most common is from UPS stating you have a package sent to you. 5.Messages from supposed law enforcement. 6.Unknown e-mail address from someone you are not familiar with. If you are not sure what to do with an e-mail you receive with an attachment, DO NO OPEN IT. If you are using an e-mail client program like Outlook, Windows Mail or ThunderBird, you can disable HTML messaging, you won’t see the pictures and graphics in e-mail, but it will be less likely to auto run a file that you really don’t want to run on your computer. Turn off Macros in your Microsoft Office Programs if not needed. If you do open the file and some programs run in the background, unplug the power cord immediately on a desktop and pull the battery on a notebook if possible. If it is a RansomWare type payload it will start encrypting the files in the documents, pictures, music and so on. Then it will look for any additional drives including mapped drives to servers and cloud locations. So, the key thing is to have good backups, local and cloud based, Don’t open messages from those you don’t know, and especially don’t open files from friends or acquaintences that you are not expecting. Keep up with Windows Updates, also Microsoft Office Updates, have a good anti-virus program installed. If your antivirus program flags a file, TRUST the Antivirus program. When all else fails, Call a professional to seek advice and help. I hope this has helped you in some small way, if you have suggestions or comments, drop me an email. | 
