Computer User Vulnerability Education

To improve understanding of potential computer vulnerabilities, CNS offers the following articles for learning about best practices and safe computing behavior. As newer security practices and vulnerabilities emerge, we will place articles and links in this location. Most of these articles are from two (2) excellent organizations involved in threat identification and education. IT Security offers a range of security and threat education resources from the end user to the computer and network professional. The Computer Emergency Respopnse Team (CERT), located at Carnegie Mellon University's Software Engineering Institute, studies internet security vulnerabilities and develops information and training to help sites improve their security.

Gone Phishing

Dead giveaways that an email is bogus — or phishing to steal your identity.
By John Edwards on September 6, 2007

   Bad news. The email says your bank account will be suspended unless you visit the bank's Web site and immediately re-enter your Social Security number, phone number, several credit card numbers, library card number and maybe even the name of the presidential candidate you voted for in the 2004 election.
   Hey, wait a minute. Do you think that message could be part of a scam to steal your cash and identity? Quite probably, yes. The Anti-Phishing Working Group, an association of retailers and financial institutions focused on eliminating Web-based fraud, reports that it finds about 20,000 to 30,000 unique "phishing" Web sites each month. Read full article...

The Fight Against Phishing: 44 Ways to Protect Yourself.

How a little alertness can go a long way in fighting cyber criminals.

It’s a scam that generates billions of dollars even when only 5 percent of the darts hit the target, it threatens the integrity of online transactions between customers and e-business houses, it’s a constant cat-and-mouse game between the perpetrators and the security guys hot on their heels - phishing, carding, brand spoofing, web spoofing - call it what you will, there’s no escaping the fact that the threat of this swindle is getting more dangerous by the day. Read Full Article...

Is It Real or Is It Spam?

Learn to spot the differences between genuine and junk email. By John Edwards

Most businesses rely on spam filters to determine the legitimacy of incoming email. Yet filtering technology remains far from perfect, and a good deal of junk email still winds up in users' inboxes. This fact makes it important to be able to visually spot the differences between real email and the digital rubbish spammers generate. Being able to quickly tell the difference between real email and spam will help you save time, unclog your inbox and pay closer attention to the messages that you really want to read. Read full article...

The Essential Guide to Spam Control

What you need to know about managing junk messages. By John Edwards on June 27, 2008

Spam now constitutes an overwhelming majority of email traffic. The never-ending onslaught of junk messages strains networks, erodes user productivity, propagates dangerous malware and costs business millions of dollars. Read full article...

The Essential Guilde to Email Security.

What you need to know about protecting incoming and outgoing email. By John Edwards

Over the past couple of decades, email has become one of the world's leading communications mediums, perhaps even outpacing the telephone and traditional mail service. Unfortunately, over this same time span, email has proven itself to be highly vulnerable to outside influences, including individuals and organizations that seek to cause some form of technological damage or hope to make money in an illegal fashion. As a result, security has become an increasingly important issue for all email users. Read full article...