La Piazza Blog - PANDA SECURITY SUPPORT

Posted by Leyre Velasco, November 3rd, 2009

Do I have a virus? Am I protected with my current antivirus? Can I post in the Panda Forum? How can I activate my product?
All the answers to these questions and many more can be found in Panda antivirus Technical Support website. Resolve yourself your query any time of the day and from anywhere in the world.
Do you still not know it? Access now the Technical Support page and see it for yourself!! At the product level, Panda offers an extensive Knowledge Base which includes the most searched solutions tailored for you.

From the free antivirus option, you will be able to scan your computer completely free through an online scanner, detecting malware infections, such as threats, rootkits, trojans, identity theft, etc. Besides, from the Panda Support page, you will be able to access the Customer Service section, containing the most frequently asked questions about modifying your customer details, a password reminder wizard and so on.

Last but not least, we would like to highlight the Support Forum, a community meeting point where you can discuss technical and off-topic issues, make suggestions, share your experiences about the Panda products and of course, find solutions to your questions. Why don’t you join in? Simply register and take an active part in the forum!!

How else can we improve Support? Share your suggestions with us! We would be delighted to hear from you!

Posted by Nerea Bezares, 29th October, 2009

Computer fraud is an everyday issue. We are becoming accustomed to hearing on the news about criminal groups that clone credit cards, hack mail accounts, bank accounts, etc.                                                                                                                                                                               

Most of these scams are carried out withour the user’s knowledge. The process is transparent until the scam is complete. However, in the case of phishing, users knowingly send their bank details to an email address (or website), and therefore have an active role in the scam.
 
Despite the best efforts of banks to warn users about these risks, victims still fall into the same traps. Today however, I would like to talk about another scam we have encountered on the Internet. It’s a traditional scam adapted to use a combination of new technologies to defraud users.
 
Ever heard of the pigeon drop scam before? Basically, it involves convincing a victim or ‘pigeon’ to give up a sum of money in order to obtain a larger sum of money. The result however is that the scammers end up with all the money.

There are many variations, but typically, the victim is presented with the chance by one of the scammers -who will often appear to be extremely naïve or stupid- to get a large sum of money (or valuable object) in exchange for a much smaller amount. A stranger (in reality, one of the scammers) will invariably appear, encouraging the victim to seize this ‘opportunity’. The victim hands over his money in exchange for the bag or envelope containing his sudden windfall, which, as the bag has been switched, turns out to be strips of newspaper or other worthless material. By this time the scammers have made off with the victim’s money, and the ‘pigeon’ will rarely report the crime through guilt or shame.
 
As innovation is all the rage among the criminal fraternity, we now have a technological version of this traditional scam. A user receives an email explaining how easy it is to become a hacker and get hold of a list of credit card numbers which can then be used to buy things online, transfer money out of people’s accounts, etc.

To access the list, the user simply has to forward his own credit card details to the sender of the email, who is –needless to say- the real hacker. The hacker will then be able to use the credit card for whatever he wants. The scammed user will not know how to explain it to the authorities, as on the one hand, he has given out his details voluntarily, and on the other, he did so to steal from other users.
 
What do you think about this scam? Do you think those who attempt to scam others deserve what they get?

We remind you we are in the  Tech Support Forum and on http://twitter.com/PandaTechSup

Posted by Sean-Paul Correll, October 21,  2009
     
Banking Trojans are one of the most prevalent Malware species in the threat landscape today.  Malware authors aim to keep infections live and undetected long enough so that they can get what they are really after: money.

Financial motivations lead malware developers to craft the stealthiest banking Trojans to steal personal and financial data for further exploitation on the black market.  Day after day innocent victims are hacked with the end result being an emptied out bank account.

This video demonstrates how dangerous and stealthy banking Trojans can be and why we must continue to raise awareness on the issue.

Make sure your Panda Security–antivirus  solution is up-to-date, we’ll take care of protecting you while you use your bank online.
As you can see, the criminal mind is quite creative, but you can avoid falling victim by paying attention and implementing the necessary security measures.

Would you like us to mention any other information that can help people avoid these crimes? Why not tell us about it?

If you still have a banking trojan problem, we remind you we are in the  Tech Support Forum and on http://twitter.com/PandaTechSup

e-Knowledge Department

Posted by Cristina Bermudez,  October 16, 2009

This is a relatively common question and the answer is:

Spam is the massive sending of UNSOLICITED email. 

Spam is not mail received due to a voluntary subscription to a distribution list (usually in exchange for relevant information), even if you consider it to be annoying, as long as you can easily unsubscribe with just a few clicks.

 Tips to avoid being saturated by large amounts of unwanted mail:

1. Be wary of messages received from unknown addresses. In general, any message from an unknown address could be spam. If it is unsolicited mail and you don’t know the sender, we advise you to delete it immediately.
2. Never open or respond to the spam message. If you open and respond to an unsolicited mail, you will be confirming the spammer your address is correct and in use, and you will probably receive more spam.
3. Only publish your address on trusted websites that guarantee the address will not be published and you will not receive unsolicited information. 
4. Install an antivirus - anti-spam filter on your PC, NOW! 
5. Do not take part in email forwards, as they are an important source of email addresses for spammers.
6. Incredible but true, you still draw your attention to messages like “The true origin of swine flu”, “Poor deformed child could be cured by forwarding this message”; there are numerous messages of this type and they are all false.

If, after following these tips, you still have a spam problem, we remind you we are in the  Tech Support Forum and on http://twitter.com/PandaTechSup

Critina Bermudez -  eKnowledge Department

Posted by Blanca Carton October 13, 2009

Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are highly popular social networks. Unfortunately, there are always hackers who try to exploit the success of these networks for financial gain. Such is the case of Twitter, which has become an easy target for hackers to distribute spam.

How can you protect against spam in Twitter?

• Disable the “followback auto” option. This way, you will be able to choose the people you want to follow.
• Do not access all the links you receive. Make sure you know who you are following. 
• Follow the spam profile in Twitter: http://twitter.com/spam. You can find good tips here. For example, according to a recent post,  “If you gave your login and password info to TwitViewer, we strongly suggest you change your password now. Thank you!”
• Install a complete security solution on the computer, preferably with an antivirus, firewall and phishing filter module.

If you follow these tips you will be protected against spam.

What type of spam could I have received?

The most common types are:

• Trending Subjects Spam: This spam searches for popular subjects (e.g. Michael Jackson’s new movie, store discounts, etc.) to publish similar tweets with malicious URLs.
• Tweet spam: This type of message comes from one user following another. Consequently, all the attached followers can see the tweet.
• Direct Message: This direct message comes from a follower. Therefore only the recipient can see it.

Don’t forget to follow us in Twitter @PandaTechSup and visit us at our New Tech Support Forum !!

Blanca Carton -  eknowledge Department