SWeCS NEWSLETTER - 7 March 2005
In this issue...
- Spoof Emails And How To Avoid The Risks
- This Fortnight's Question
- SWeCS Picks Up Recent Website Awards
- Free Promotion For Your Events
- Resources For Small Business
SPOOF EMAILS AND HOW TO AVOID THE RISKS
One of the dangers on the Internet at the moment is referred
to as "spoof" emails, or "phishing". Here's
a rundown of what it is and how you can stay safe.
A spoof email is simply an email that pretends to be from an organisation (such as eBay, your bank, Paypal, etc) which asks you to log in to your account and update your details. It usually asks this on the pretense that there has been a security breach or something, and contains a link for you to click on and log into your account.
The emails will often look EXACTLY like your bank's website, or eBay, or whoever they're pretending to be. The link will look correct. The website you go to will look correct. After you enter your details, the message may even say that you've successfully updated your account. But what has actually happened is that you've provided your account details to a thief, and they can then use that to immediately log into your real account and steal your money, make purchases on your behalf, or whatever your account allows.
Unfortunately, this kind of fraud is very easy to do. We don't pretend to be the cleverest people at website design, but we know how to create these kinds of emails (of course, we never have!). The harder part would actually be getting away with it. If the thief logs into your account they have to transfer your money somewhere, and eventually the authorities could track where it went, but by then the thief has probably long gone, and closed their temporary accounts, fake ID, and whatever else they used to receive your money. This is especially the case if they are overseas.
So what can you do to protect yourself from these kinds of emails? It's actually not that hard. Here are some basic points to remember:
- Any reputable business (eg. your bank, eBay, etc) should never
ask you to click on a link, log into your account, and verify
your passwords. They already have this information, they don't
need you to do that. If they really needed to get your information,
they should be phoning you.
So, if you get any kind of email saying "There's a problem with your account, please click here to log in" - be immediately suspicious.
- If you think that the email really has come from the organisation,
rather than clicking on the link, open up your Internet Browser
and go direct to their site. That way you know that you're going
to the real site.
- Here's a trick - when you see a link in an email, put your mouse
over it. Usually at the bottom of your browser window you will
see the actual address it will take you to. So although the link
might say www.ebay.com.au, putting your mouse on it may show that
it's going to go to http://12.343.2432/some-strange-site. This
is an immediate tip off that the email is a fraud.
However, it is fairly easy to alter the coding of the email so that the link in the browser window shows up the same as the one in the email. That is, the fraudulent link can be hidden, so this test is NOT failsafe.
- If you do click on the link, don't panic. Usually, clicking
on the link itself won't cause a problem, it will just take you
to the fraudelent site. It's usually only when you then enter
your details into the site that you have a problem. However, these
crooks can install some pretty clever scripts on their sites,
so it's advisable to never click on the links in these emails,
just in case. If you have, you should contact the organisation
involved to see if your security has been breached.
- Some organisations, such as eBay, ask that you forward a copy of the email to them so that they can pass it on to the authorities. If you receive a fraudulent eBay email you should forward it to spoof@ebay.com.au, or if you get a fraudulent Paypal email it should be forwarded to spoof@paypal.com. Check with your bank to see what they would like you to do with any fraudulent emails.
THIS FORTNIGHT'S QUESTION
This fortnight's question comes from John:
"I hear people talking about advertising on the Internet. How do you do that?"
The most basic form of Internet advertising is to have a website. Even the most basic website is like an online "brochure" which advertises your business. However, a website on it's own won't attract visitors, you need to promote it. This includes promotion on the Internet as well as "offline" (letterheads, business cards, advertisements, answering machine messages, etc).
Advertising on the Internet includes the following three areas:
- Search engines - whether you pay for advertisements in the search
engines, or for someone to optimise your site so that it appears
higher in the results, this is the best way to get real targetted
traffic. Over 1 billion searches are conducted on the Internet
every day worldwide.
- Email marketing - be careful with this one, but if you have
a list of people who are happy to hear from you via email, then
this can be a good way to tell them about yourself.
- Direct advertising - there are a number of directories and other websites out there that will place your advertisement on their website for a fee
Got a question? Send it to us at admin@southwestecommerce.com and we'll do our best to answer it, as well as publish one every
fortnight for everyone to see.
SWeCS PICKS UP RECENT WEBSITE AWARDS
South West eCommerce Strategies recently won a number of awards
for customer websites.
The awards were presented by the Australian Web Designers Community, under their "Site Of The Day" awards program.
The sites to win awards were:
FREE PROMOTION FOR YOUR EVENTS
Don't forget that if you're in the south west of Western Australia, you can promote your events for free through the South West Life calendar at www.southwestlife.com.au.
Simply register for a free login, and you can add your events to the South West Life calendar, which currently has over 10,000 subscribers, and receives over 25,000 visitors a month.
RESOURCES FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Browse through the SWeCS Ecommerce Library, full of FREE information about getting more out of the Internet. Sections include Web Site Development, Web Site Promotion & Internet Marketing, Online Commerce, Computer & Technical Issues, and Miscellaneous.
The SWeCS Newsletter archives provides a wealth of FREE information on small business and the Internet. Browse through the main topics or search for your particular query.
Start up another income stream, by earning commissions for each referral who signs up for one of our services.
Do you know of a resource that should be added
here? Email us and let us know. There is only one
condition - it must be free.
OTHER EMAIL NEWSLETTERS
Here's some other email newsletters you might
like:
www.dunsboroughbayvillageresort.com/news/newsindex.htm
www.west-oz.com/enewsletter/enewsletteronline.asp
http://derekstockley.com/newsletters/news-index.html
This newsletter is produced by South West eCommerce
Strategies - © 2007
PO Box 2340, Bunbury, WA 6230
Ph: (08) 9721 1326
Fax: (08) 9721 1352
Email: admin@southwestecommerce.com
Web Site: www.southwestecommerce.com
