ATTN: There’s An Un-Removable New Virus Infecting Fully Protected Computers & Servers.
This is a screen shot of a new “Ransom Virus”. Click on it for a larger image. It tries to scare you by saying there is child porn on your server. It encrypts all your files, threatens to send them to the FBI, and demands thousands of dollars to unencrypt them.
We first saw this virus on a client’s terminal server that was fully patched and up-to-date. So how did they get a virus?
A user had their weak password hacked. Once a hacker has a password to any computer on the network, they can get into the server, disable the antivirus, and install whatever malicious files he wants to without tripping any alarms.
The virus completely locked up their server by encrypting all the files. The pop up message offers the “password” to unlock the files for your credit card number. These are criminals. Do not send them your credit card info.
At “The Edge”, we are constantly trying to help our remote team members feel more connected. We have two different types of remote users: People who work from home, and those that work at satellite offices.
Working from home is a benefit many of our employees enjoy. They save on gas, spend more time with their families, and increase focus by avoiding the daily office distractions. For example, our bookkeeper Linda Goodson only comes into the office about once a week. To keep connected with users like Linda, we use a number of handy tools:
It started with MySpace’s spam overload and subsequent downfall. Now we have Google Plus, whose main goal is getting our demographic info to improve their search engine, and Facebook, who’s recent “shady” IPO will surely be followed by massive lawsuits. With all this nonsense going on, it seems we can’t really trust the e-worlds we live in anymore. Personally, I deleted my Facebook and started hanging out with actual people again.
At least we still have the professional, rock solid LinkedIn to fall back on, right? Wait…all their passwords just got hacked?? and they store your private information without authorization!??
So while MySpace is already dead, Facebook is floundering, and Google Plus is underused, LinkedIn has recently taken a couple of huge, brand-damaging shots. But can we still trust them?
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Mershon and Brandon
Part two of the field trip began at New York Pizza Depot. If you missed Part 1, start here.
Deb arranged pizza to be ready for us when we arrived, and Brandon met us for lunch. Brandon (U of M Physics faculty) has met the students on three previous occasions; once on the last field trip to AA, and twice at Tech Club in Detroit this past semester. He caught up with the students while we ate and let them know we would be heading to Angell Hall for a lesson on financial aid.
We walked over to Angell Hall to meet our presenter for part 2, Mershon Dye. She is a friend of Brandon’s that works in the U of M financial aid office. Mershon began with a lesson about creating a monthly budget. She passed out profile sheets giving each student a Job Title, Salary, Marital Status, Family Size, etc. The profile sheet had a running bank account ledger with monthly income already filled in as a credit. The first step was adding in their spouse’s income and subtracting taxes and insurance. Next, they were instructed to decide what else they would be spending the rest of their money on.
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Henry using a pipette to experiment with mouse DNA.
Yesterday, we brought the students from Cody out to Ann Arbor for a visit to the University of Michigan. Deb Berman (Customer Experience Manager at DE) lined up an action packed day for the kids where they would get to meet up with a familiar face, Brandon Lucas, and make some new friends as well.
We started at Dr. Shannon Davis’ lab for a hands-on lesson on genetics. Dr. Davis works with mice to isolate and identify genes that cause developmental deformities. His studies can then be used to help recognize and prevent those same deformities in humans.
The kids started out in the lab. They learned to use pipettes to measure precise amounts of liquid down to the micro liter. Then they each got to “pipette” small amounts of mouse DNA into a gel solution for an experiment. After each “well” was filled with DNA, the container was closed and an electric current was run through the gel. Dr. Davis explained how the current would pull the DNA a certain distance through the gel depending on which dominant and recessive genes were present. The goal was to identify the gene for dwarfism.
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How changes in piracy policies might affect how you use the web.
It seems like just yesterday SOPA and PIPA were threatening to end the internet as we know it. General public outrage seems to have squashed those bills and they are currently dead in the water. But that doesn’t mean the Internet isn’t destined to change. An international pact called ACTA is still pending in the U.S. and could be more restrictive than the two aforementioned bills.
But did you know that an alternative to those bills, The Copyright Alert System, is already in place?
As a country, our main “product” is information, and the “Wild West” days of free information are nearly over. The proposed SOPA, PIPA, and ACTA are the equivalent of military police. The new “Copyright Alert System” is more like an elementary school principal. The main difference is this new system is bypassing the Government all together.
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