Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/224217
48 Information Technology maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 DECEMBER 2013 Ways to spot and avoid online scams need to do or share something in order to claim it – don't! Others may ask you to help some widow transfer her late husband's wealth out of Congo or Nigeria – don't! Some may even disguise themselves as a friend who has been mugged and left stranded abroad, asking for your help to lend some money. Scam websites Mark Bishop IT is a known fact that the internet can be a dangerous place for many reasons. One of these reasons, and the one I will go over in some depth here, is a fraudulent activity commonly referred to as 'scam'. Scams come in various forms and through various ways, but perhaps the most common being through email and malicious websites. There can be many intentions behind a scam but in most cases the reason would be to defraud or trick someone into performing an action unintentionally. Amidst the torrent of spam being delivered across the Internet on a daily basis, there is a number of scam emails. As a general rule, while spam will normally try to sell you something, scams may try to tell you that you won something and that you need to do something to claim it. Scam emails that try to trick you into opening an attachment A scam email may try to disguise itself as a genuine email you would regularly receive from a trusted source such as a phone bill from your mobile telephony provider or a receipt for an online transaction. In this case, if the scam is disguising itself as something you don't nor- mally receive, then it is fairly easy to detect. However, on the contrary, you will need a sharper eye to identify and avoid a scam email from a genuine one. It is never a good idea to open email attachments blindly based solely on confidence, because this is exactly the weakness which the mastermind behind the scam wants to exploit. Instead, you should invest a few seconds to suss out the authenticity of the email in question. Many scam email will bear a considerable number of grammar and spelling mistakes, whilst others will be visibly different from the genuine counterpart, such as lower quality images and somewhat broken layout. Always treat these features as suspicious, and when in doubt seek an expert opinion. In these cases, opening the malicious attachment could do anything from stealing sensitive information such as password, to opening a Shireburn software organises second blood donation drive this year FOR the second time this year, Shireburn Software organised a blood donation drive at the National Blood Transfusion Unit in Guardamangia. The initiative was part of Shireburn's 30th Anniversary celebrations, as well as its ongoing corporate social responsibility programme, encouraging employees to donate blood and give back to the community. The management of Shireburn Software thanked staff members for potentially saving lives today. They also showed gratitude for those employees who kept the office up and running in the interim so as not to disrupt customer support. The company provided transport to and from the Blood Donation Unit and also surprised staff with a much appreciated light snack back at the office once they returned. Shireburn Software are developers of an array of robust and integrated business solutions encompassing accounting, inventory, payroll and HR, retail, e-commerce, business intelligence and document management solutions amongst others. backdoor on your computer which can later be used by a criminal to perform illegal activities while disguising their true identity and location. Scam email that tries to convince you to do something stupid Many other scam emails will try to exploit common weaknesses in people such as sympathy and the allure to wealth. Some may tell you that you won a lottery but you will Besides email, the other major delivery platform for scams are websites. Like email, a website may try to disguise itself as another popular website, with very little differences, commonly using slightly misspelled address variations from the genuine website's address to capture common typing mistakes. The same sharp eye policy applies here. If a website you normally visit is behaving in a strange way, such as asking you to download and install some software update to be able to watch videos out of the blue, then the chances are that you have hit a scam site so be vigilant and double check everything. Another form of scam websites are those which take advantage of popular search phrases with the hope to rank well in search engines and eventually reach many potential victims. Always be wary of websites that claim to offer stuff for free, especially if you are asked to either download something or to enter sensitive information first. As a general rule, never give out money or personal information under any circumstance, no matter how genuine and harmless the asking party appears. www.alert.com.mt Mark Bishop is the head of the Alert eBusiness Data Centre