MicroWorld releases new version of MailScan Ver. 4.5 - the antivirus and content security software for mail servers.

Michigan - May 20, 2005 - MicroWorld Technologies, Inc. the leading solutions provider in the area of Anti-virus and Content security, has announced the launch of its new version of MailScan Ver. 4.5, the antivirus and content security software for mail servers.

The new version of MailScan provides additional security features to allow users to monitor the TCP connections on their systems, and use enhanced Anti-SPAM control to fight SPAM.

The new security feature interface displays all the active TCP connections to your computer. It lists information about the processes, protocols, local addresses, remote addresses and Process Status on the computer. It allows you to identify any unauthorized access to your mail server and take effective counter measures to safeguard your system.

MailScan 4.5 provides the user with real time access to Relay Blackhole List at <Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. for IPs of known Spammers. The site maintains active real-time Blackhole list that you can use to verify if any IP that connects to your MailServer is listed as that of a known Spammer, and take appropriate action.

MailScan 4.5 is the next step in the continuing process to provide added security to mail servers against virus attacks, SPAM and other forms of security threats to networks via e-mail.

Mr Govind Rammurthy, CEO, MicroWorld Technologies, Inc. says "MicroWorld's MailScan 4.5 with its new features, is a step forward in strengthening our products to ensure that corporate gateways are well-protected from ever increasing and smart Internet intruders. Continuous development has made MailScan one of the most popular mail gateway security products available in the markets today."

About the Author:
Microworld Technologies Inc
Posted: 20-09-2005
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com

Phishing – It’s Signs and Your Options

Phishing is the act of some individual sending an email to a user in an attempt to scam the user to release personal information. Is it easy to determine if it’s a scam? Sometimes – but not always. I hope to give you enough examples and information to help you to safeguard yourself from these unsavory individuals.

In addition, sometimes the email is sent to malicious software so as to render your computer helpless. Thus, it is important that you do not click on the link they provide, because that is the trigger that will load the software to your system.

EXAMPLES OF PHISHING

You receive hundreds of emails in your mailbox, but one email catches your eye – it directs you to a website, requesting that you need to update your personal information. It requests such personal information as:

passwords

credit card numbers

social security number

bank account numbers

“It appears to be legitimate”, you say to yourself. And you also notice that the emails are from companies that you have been doing business with for a while. Warning: The website could be bogus.

Here are several examples of phishing in action.

1. E-mails stating they are from E-bay and they feel that your account may have been compromised and would like you to verify your information with they so conveniently supply. DO NOT click on it.

2. E-mails from Paypal or your bank asking that you verify your information because they feel that your account has been compromised, or heaven forbid, suspended. Same scenario, different company. DO NOT click on the link.

3. E-mail that states that an unauthorized transaction has occurred on your account. Please click the link below and confirm your identity. DO NOT.

4. Here’s a work at home scam – We have seen your resume on Monster and feel you would fit our position. If you are interested, please go to our website, look over the experience required and submit your resume if you have this background. Website is professional looking, offer looks good – but it could be a scam.

WHAT ARE THEY AFTER

In the above examples they are after information about you, be it passwords, credit cards, social security numbers, anything that can identify you – and that which they can use to profit from you.

The job email is used to verify that the email address is a true blue, active email address. What do they do with this info – they sell these accounts to spammers for good money. They need to verify your email address—because if the spammers come up empty – this person’s business is dead.

HOW TO VERIFY SAFELY

1. If they want you to verify your account, do not cut and paste, or use the link they provide in the email. Close your Internet session, open a new session and enter the site that you have on record to verify.

2. Emails requesting resumes – Verify their account before you send your resume. When verifying – these red flags should be considered:

1) If they are hesitant to provide a phone number – might be a scam.

2) If their business address is not verifiable –might be a scam.

3) If the website is new – might be a scam.

4) If they use a large company’s name—and that company never heard of them – might be a scam.

5) Again, verify this information before you send your resume.

WAYS TO PROTECT YOURSELF

Here are some quick tips to protect you and your computer system.

1. Use anti-virus software and a firewall – keep them up to date.

2. If you have a broadband connection make sure you have a firewall in place.

3. Don’t email personal or financial information.

4. Before providing personal information – search to see if the site is secure – look for a lock icon. However, remember not all phishers are stupid – in fact, they could be computer savvy enough to forge security icons. Thus, look for a site whose link looks like this: https://www.somename.com -- this shows that it is a secure site.

5. Coupons from respected companies – Verify that it is a true-blue coupon from the company – I had one coupon sent to my email address from what I thought was Staples. Verified it with Staples – not a coupon honored by Staples. When on the Internet – if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it still may not be a duck!

6. When making transactions on the Internet – be it online banking, Paypal, Internet Gold, etc. – complete your transaction, log out of the website, and close out of your Internet Explorer—and then continue with a new session of Internet Explorer.

WHERE TO FORWARD SPAM THAT IS PHISHNG

If you encounter spam that is phishing, or are a victim of a phishing scam, you can forward the information to spam@uce.gov and to the company, bank or organization that the email may have stated they are from. In many cases, the other organizations have information on their website where you can report the attempted scam.

In addition, if you have been scammed, and you wish to file a complaint – go to ftc.gov.

To conclude, no one is immune to spam or a scam. But try to be ever vigilant and do your due diligence with anything you do on the Internet. But being human is a scammer’s hope – they know that most will ignore the bait, but some will be tempted. So, if you so humanly slip, and succumb to a phishing scam, you can report them to ftc.gov.

About the Author:
Vickie J Scanlon has a BBA degree in Administrative Management and Marketing. Visit her site at: www.myaffiliateplace.biz for free tools, articles, ebooks, how to info, affiliate opportunities, products and services – to meet your budget and needs.
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Scams, Spams, Viruses and Spyware - Protecting Yourself Online

On the Internet, there's so much to see and do. You can communicate, shop, play and learn. It's a veritable treasure trove of information and activities for just about anyone of any age. Unfortunately, just like in the real world, everything also has a downside. For the Internet, that downside includes, scams, spam, viruses and spyware. Basically, people who want to take advantage of you. This article will give you some basics for protecting yourself online.

Scams

One of the worst scams comes to you via email, in the form of "phishing" emails. They come to you in the form of an email from banks, eBay, a store, Paypal or other business or financial institution. The email will have the name of the company in the from area and the email may look real, complete with corporate logos and official sounding text. Don't be fooled, however. A reputable financial institution or business will never ask you for your username, password, account number or other sensitive personal information via email. NEVER click on the link to the site provided in their email. If you are unsure if the email is fake, then open up your browser and manually type in the URL of the company's website. Go there and login and see if they are requesting something from you there. Chances are, they aren't. You can report these emails or simply delete them.

Other scam emails may come to you from foreign countries asking you to hold a large sum of money for them, in return you get a percentage of the money, usually millions of dollars. If it sounds too good to be true, it is. This scam has been around for years, don't fall for it. It's just a way to get your bank account information and to empty it before you even realize what has happened.

Scam websites are also a problem, whether it's a fly by night store, a phony eBay seller or a store that's actually just trying to get you to give them your personal information for marketing purposes, you can easily avoid these by checking eBay feedback, store reviews via Google and the BBB and other consumer complaint websites.

The solution to scams? Be vigilant. Never click a URL in an email that looks the least bit suspicious. Always check the feedback, reviews and ratings of sellers before buying and never, ever give away your personal information to a website that looks suspicious.

Spam

Spam can be a huge problem if you have had your email address for any length of time. No matter how well you protect your email address by not giving it out to anyone you don't know, you're still going to get spam. You can, however, minimize the time you spend dealing with spam by adjusting the options in your ISP or web mail preferences section. For most web email addresses, like Yahoo Mail, Gmail and Hotmail, you can adjust or train the spam filters so that spam rarely makes it to your main inbox but instead ends up in your Bulk Mail or Junk Mail folder. For AOL users, they have a similar Spam Mail folder and email options which you can adjust to your liking. For stand alone email programs using POP email boxes, any good email program will have spam and junk mail filters as well as allow you to set rules for which mail is deleted, flagged or sent in to the Junk Mail folder according to preferences you set. If you still have a problem, you may consider a third party program like MailWasher at mailwasher.net or SingleFin from singlefin.net. Both programs are free and should help solve or minimize your spam problem.

Viruses

Viruses are a common problem if you spend any time online. That greeting card attachment your friend forwarded you contained more than a greeting card, you've now got a virus! Viruses can slow your computer down, slow down your web surfing or they can do more serious damage like relay sensitive information like your bank login information to a hacker or at the worst end, erase your entire hard drive! To prevent these problems, you should never open attachments unless it's been scanned by a virus program first, also don't download any files from suspicious websites, stick to the well known download sites instead, like download.com. To help keep your computer clean of viruses, download and install one of the many anti-virus programs available. Some good ones are AVG Free Anti-Virus, from grisoft.com and Avast Anti-Virus from avast.com. Both programs are free and will automatically check for new versions of their virus databases so you are protected from existing and new viruses.

Spyware

Spyware is also a common problem that can slow your computer down tremendously and run programs on your computer without you even knowing. Spyware can come from websites, even well known and reputable websites but usually spyware is contained in certain free programs, like games and software that is free due to banner ads or other advertising inside the program. Since spyware can slow down your computer, it's a good idea to download and install at least one program that will protect you from spyware. Two good ones are Spyware Doctor from pctools.com and Ad-Aware SE from lavasoft.de.

Once you have downloaded and installed your anti-virus and spyware protection software, be sure to schedule a full scan of your computer often, at least once a week or more to help keep your computer running fast and smooth.

About the Author:
Lydia Quinn writes for PaidSurvey24.com, a free and comprehensive paid survey directory list. Visit us at: http://www.paidsurvey24.com.
This article was posted on November 21, 2006
Article Source: articlecity

Does Your Website Host Fight Spam?

Virtually anyone with an email address knows what Spam is, and has, perhaps, considered giving up the speed, convenience, and simplicity of email because of it. Those who have their own websites are more vulnerable than the average person with a single work or home email address from their company or Internet Service Provider. Email addresses visible on a website can quickly become Spam magnets, as automated programs, similar in form to search engine spiders, roam the web, looking for addresses to which new broadsides of Spam may be fired. Website hosting companies generally provide their clients email accounts for use with their domain, but are you with a host that provides those email accounts with Spam and virus protection?

Local Blacklist Filters
Webmasters shouldn't need to seek out local filters for their site's contact email addresses. There are a variety of server level solutions a hosting company can offer to protect their users from unwanted emails. A most basic step is provision of a very rudimentary "blacklist" functionality to their users, allowing them to prevent future Spam emails from arriving from the same address. This type of filter is virtually worthless in today's Spam environment, though, as it is quite rare to see unsophisticated email arriving from the same address multiple times. Spammers have grown far more sophisticated than that. Blacklisting functionality is only really useful in avoiding email from other real people you don't particularly wish to hear from anymore.

Keywords and Regular Expressions
More advanced server level Spam filters are available. A small advance is accomplished using keyword filters. Keyword filters merely check for instances of a certain string of characters and deny the message if that string if found. The core problem with keyword-only filters is they can "over filter". Someone who puts "sex" on their keyword filter will find receiving local news and event announcements difficult if they live in a town named "Essex". Some filters attempt to address this deficiency by using "regular expressions" in order to build a sophisticated rule set to prevent Spam from reaching your inbox. Briefly, regular expressions are syntax rules used to identify certain strings of text or numbers. These rules can be set up to identify text patterns that are commonly used in Spam. They can become quite complex, but, as with most any filtering method, are not 100% bullet proof. Some filters that use regular expressions come with a basic set that can be appended by the user. Obviously this kind of feature is of little use to someone not familiar with regular expressions.

Bayesian Filters
Currently the most sophisticated filtering methods use Bayesian inferences. Bayesian filters take a large data set and determine the probability a message is Spam based on its similarity to previous Spam messages. The more emails that are processed and flagged theoretically make the filter more accurate. Services that provide filtering on an ISP or host level, like Postini's "SpamAway", filter billions of emails and provide the highest level of success and fewest "false positives". SpamAway is already highly intelligent about identifying Spam and doesn't require any "learning" commands or examples be provided. The online, browser based interface keeps flagged messages in an easily accessible "quarantine" and allows the user to check for any false positives. White list functionality is provided to aide in the prevention of future false positives. A hosting company offering such an advanced service takes Spam and virus filtering for their customers seriously.

About the Author:
Eric Lester
Mr. Lester has served for 4 years as the webmaster for ApolloHosting.com and previously worked in the IT industry an additional 5 years, acquiring knowledge of hosting, design, and search engine optimization. Apollo Hosting provides website hosting, ecommerce hosting, vps hosting, and web design services to a wide range of customers. Established in 1999, Apollo prides itself on the highest levels of customer support. Click for more hosting articles.
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Email Anti Spam And Virus Protection For Businesses - There Is Hope

With anti spam vendors offering low cost licensing, businesses can now afford advanced email spam and virus protection with a simple to use interface at a much lower cost. The great thing about technology is that as it evolves it gets faster, additional features and economical. Over the past few years the same evolution has taken place with anti spam technology and services. In large part this can be attributed to the open source software community plus enterprising companies enhancing the capabilities of this software and packaging it into easy to use anti spam appliances.

It is not practical to have anti spam software running on desktops in a networked business environment. Managing all employee junk email software at the desktop is not realistic. It can be a nightmare and costly in terms time and licensing.

Spam appliances sit in front of your email server so that when email comes in it will first go to the spam appliance and the email will be scanned for spam as well as viruses. The filter will block the message if it identified as know spam. If the filter is not sure if the email is genuine it will quarantine and hold the email at the filter and it will be stored until the recipient deletes it, releases it to their email box, or they can white list a trusted correspondent so that future emails will not be held back. This will greatly reduce the load on your email server and reduce your bandwidth needs. We have seen anti spam systems block up to 83% of incoming messages. This could help extend the life of your email server and push back the need for upgraded capacity.

Most virus outbreaks occur via email and for little cost an appliance can block viruses before they reach your network and user’s inboxes. This provides an extra layer of defense in addition to your current anti virus solution.

Businesses have two options if they use an appliance based solution for their spam and virus control. They can purchase and administer their own filter. This is a good option if you have a large number of employee mailboxes to protect and the technical staff to administer the spam appliance. Businesses also have the option to outsource their spam control as a hosted service. This is a good choice for smaller companies and if information technology is not your specialty.

If you purchase your own spam filter, a subscription to updates may also be required. Make sure you get upfront pricing for the add-ons that you will need. If you have more than 100 email users and the technical staff to maintain the spam appliance, buying your own filter may be your best option. Generally the basic model will work for most organizations. Large organizations with thousands of users will require a spam filter appliance with increases capacity and features. Spam appliances are designed to work with all mail systems but some do have specific enhancements for Exchange server Microsoft’s popular collaboration software and mail servers that support LDAP (light weight directory access protocol). Spam appliances use the LDAP protocol to verify recipients before delivering messages to your email server, this avoids consuming server resources.

If your business has five to one hundred employees, then an outsourced anti spam and virus filter service is going to be a good economical choice for your organization. Fees are based on the number of users and you only pay for what you use. You will not have hardware to buy, maintain, and upgrade. The upfront cost is minimal and most email filtering providers will let you try the service for free at first. Another added benefit to outsourcing your spam control is redundancy. It is important that you choose a provider that has their spam and virus filters collocated at secure internet data center facilities. Data centers provide redundant network connections and power, so if your email server or internet connection is down unexpectedly the spam appliance will hold your email until your email server becomes available, minus spam and viruses.

Anti spam technology is constantly improving and the costs are getting lower. With increased productivity and an added layer of defense against virus attacks, an anti spam appliance or service is something your business can not afford to be without.

About the Author:
John Tourloukis is the founder of Fast PC Networks an internet consulting company and anti spam and virus filter service firm.
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

f Secure Internet Security Suite - Antivirus, Antispyware, Anti Spam, Firewall, Parental Controls

f-Secure Internet Security is an "all inclusive" suite of computer security products that offers excellent protection against computer viruses, Trojans, hackers, spyware, phishing attempts, and spam. fSecure Internet Security also includes a good parental control option, which allows parents to block known "bad" websites. Parents can also block access to any other websites they don't want their children to view, and the internet timer can be used to only allow internet use during specific times of day. fSecure claims to have the worlds fastest updates against new internet security threats, and also the most powerful personal firewall. f Secure has one of the best antivirus programs available, ranking number 4 in PC World's "top 10" anti virus products for 2006, just under Bit Defender, McAfee, and Kaspersky antivirus. fSecure antivirus also ranked #3 with TopTenReviews.com, receiving their prestigious "bronze" award.

I've been using fSecure Internet Security for about a month now, and have found it to be very easy to use. The installation is very simple, and a built in "wizard" walks you through configuration of the antivirus, personal firewall, and spyware setup. The ease of installation and setup is great, especially for PC novices who can just "set it and forget it". By default, the parental control software is not turned on, but the simple user interface makes this a simple thing to do if needed.

As with most computer security suites, fSecure "bogs down" your system a bit when the computer is first turned on, making it take a little longer to fully load. Once you're up and running however, you don't even know it's there. I'm running fSecure on a Windows XP computer with 1GB of RAM though. If you are using less than 512 MB of RAM, you will likely notice a serious performance drain when running fSecure or any other computer security suite.

The f Secure Internet Security interface is clean and easy to understand and use, and the initial default view provides all the information you need at a glance. You can quickly see the status of protection from viruses, spyware, firewall, and spam. The fSecure interface also tells you the status of your subscription, and lets you know when it expires. From the f Secure Internet Security control window, you can easily make configuration changes to the antivirus, antispyware, spam control settings, or personal firewall settings. By default, these settings are set to "normal" protection, which provides the recommended level of protection. Your other choices are "high", "off", and "custom", which allows more advanced users to finely tune and control the way fSecure works. The "normal" security settings produce the least amount of drain on system resources while providing excellent protection.

The "custom" setting allows more advanced users to control various aspects of fSecure Internet Security, including how often files are scanned for viruses and spyware, and which files should be scanned. From the custom configuration settings window, you can also control personal firewall rules and services, browser security, the level of spam filtering, and just about any other aspect of fSecure Internet Security.

All in all, I like the fSecure Internet Security Suite and find it to provide excellent protection against viruses, spam, hackers, and spyware. With all internet security suites, usually one of the "bundled" products is exceptionally good, and the others are merely "acceptable". F Secure's antivirus is by far one of the best virus protection products I have used, providing exceptional protection against zero day attacks and rootkits. The personal firewall is also very good, and I feel that my data is safe while protected by fSecure. The parental control software is pretty basic, and doesn't allow configuration for multiple users. If you want the same protection for everyone in your family though, it serves its purpose well. Internet security suites provide an excellent way for users to protect themselves against all the dangers on the internet. For the absolute best protection against viruses, spyware, spam, and hackers, it would be necessary to install the best individual products available.

For example, you might choose f-Secure for antivirus, SpyCop for anti spyware, Sunbelt Kerio for a personal firewall, and BitDefender for anti-spam. This "pick and choose" approach is not recommended for "average" computer users however, because running several different types of security software (and associated subscriptions) can get pretty complex and costly. Computer security suites are an easy, economical way to protect your computer from a host of internet security threats, and are therefore the recommended method of protection. http://goarticles.com/cgi-bin/add.cgi f-Secure is a very good "all in one" product for protection against viruses, spyware, identity theft, intruders, and spam. It costs around $80 for the software and a year's worth of updates. Once you own the software, it costs around $60 for a renewal subscription.

f-Secure Internet Security - Review
Computer Security Suites

About the Author:
Debbie Jacobsen is an information technology professional and author of Antivirus, Firewall, and Spyware Resources, Laptop Security Basics, and Computer Security for Everyone
Submitted: 2006-10-21
Article Source: GoArticles