Careful: The USPS Didn’t Send THAT.

Identification

This email arrived, allegedly from the US Postal Service. Nope, it’s a fake, it’s dangerous, and the USPS doesn’t do this stuff.

usps malware email

These are common, and dangerous. Clicking that link will result, usually, in the installation of a fake security program or a search hijack toolbar. The cleanup is routine bench work (call me if you’re local to Carroll County, Maryland), but even better, just click delete and avoid the problem. And maybe consider improving the filtering on your email; ask your mail provider for help.

These typically include a document you must print, and claim to be from any of these sources:

  • Any delivery service, but especially USPS, UPS, Fedex, or DHL.
  • Any of the top 50 banks.
  • Any government body, but especially the IRS.

How do you know this is a fake? Put the mouse over the link for printing but do not click. Look in the bottom left corner of the screen to see the address that the link will go to. In this case, it should go to USPS.com. It doesn’t. In this email, there are more clues:

  • They’re asking you to print a label. None of the groups these claim to be from will do that.
  • The domains of the from address, the reply address, and the address in the printing link do not match each other.
  • None of the addresses in the e-mail match the claimed sender.
  • The email appears to be from a person, not a department, at a giant impersonal organization. That’s highly unlikely.
  • The logo shown is not the correct logo. It’s not the right font or the right colors or it’s an old version.
  • There are grammar errors, punctuation errors, or word choice errors in the e-mail.
  • The instructions in the e-mail don’t quite make sense. In this case, you’re supposed to take a label to the nearest post office to get your package, and not to the specific post office that delivers to your street address.

Notice the shape of the C and S. The real USPS logo uses streamlined characters that are straight at the top and the bottom. The letters in the fake are a curved generic font.

usps logo

Be suspicious of any e-mail that asks you to print a document, that claims to be from a big company, a big bank, or a government organization, or that is asking you to do something that that organization would normally handle by telephone, or by asking you to react in some other way than by printing a document. When in doubt close the e-mail and contact that organization in the way you normally would–pick up the telephone or go to their webpage, but do not, ever, click an e-mail link without looking where it goes first.

Jerry Stern is webmaster at PC410.com and Startupware.com.

Shortcuts? We don’t need no bleenkin’ shortcuts… No, wait.

Deals
keyboard shortcuts
Windows 8 Shortcuts Chart, at www.pc410.com/keyboard

Windows 8 is based on touch, or at least it is until you run a program. But nearly everything that can be touch-done can be keyboard-shortcutted. The new printable shortcut chart for Windows 8 keyboard shortcuts is available for free download now over at PC410.com.

Jerry Stern is webmaster at PC410.com and Startupware.com.

Backing up for Hurricane Sandy

microISV How-To's

The largest hurricane/noreaster/superstorm ever recorded is on the way to the Mid-Atlantic. Yikes. Ready here, and I’ll be available for power-related computer and network repairs once the storm passes and power is restored, for anyone in Carroll County, Maryland.

It’s getting late for backups now, but you should always have these backups for each computer:

  • There should be a full-image backup of the hard drive, on a removable device, usually an external drive, less than 3 months old, for restoring a burnt/crashed hard drive
  • There should be a documents backup, not older than the amount of work that you can easily recreate, on a removable device. For businesses, that’s usually one day old.
  • There should be another documents backup, from a week or two older than your newest backup, in case the newest backup is incomplete, lost, or zapped.
  • A backup device that is removable, but still plugged into your computer when a storm arrives, doesn’t count as a backup.
  • Finally, there should be an online backup of documents. Online backups should be encrypted before leaving your computer.

Overall, you’re aiming for three copies of all data, on two different types of devices, and one copy of data that is off-site. All of these backups can be automated. Ask me how, if you’re in central Maryland.

Jerry Stern is webmaster at PC410.com and Startupware.com.