Most schools use a Student Information System (SIS) to manage all of their students’ records, grades and personal information. PowerSchool is the biggest SIS company in the US and Canada, and they just suffered a data breach. If you have kids in K-12 school right now, you may want to know more about this: Data … Read more
We all have to deal with a certain amount of spam. But if you notice a sudden and major uptick in the spam coming to your inbox, pay attention! This could be a spam bomb. This is a smokescreen tactic used by cybercriminals to hide what they’re doing… The strategy is this: A bad guy … Read more
This scam gets to be wildly successful, this time of year, because many of us are patronizing Amazon so much. As the standard notification emails roll in from all of your purchases and returns, The Amazon Purchase Scam email may arrive in your inbox. Please don’t mistake this for a true Amazon message! This is … Read more
Package delivery scams have been making the rounds for years. And they grow in number during the holiday season. The scammers surely know that our gift-giving culture leads to a higher number of shipments, and that increases their scams’ chances of working. Let’s go over the details of these scams, so you have a better … Read more
Microsoft makes a free download that will scan your PC for malware, viruses and other baddies. It’s a one-and-done operation and it won’t conflict with your full-time antivirus. You can download the Microsoft Safety Scanner here. If you’re already protecting your computer with Microsoft Defender Antivirus, this scan tool probably won’t do much for you. … Read more
This scam has been around for a long time, and when I blogged about it in 2022, I was able to show you how easy it was to recognize. Not so with the latest edition. The Microsoft 365 Renewal Scam, v2.0 is “new & improved”, and much more likely to fool someone. Here’s what to … Read more
I am frequently asked on Facebook, “How can you tell?“, when I call out a bogus poster. And there’s no short answer. There are many, many different tells. I’ll try to compile them all here, as a “Guide to Spotting Fake Facebook Profiles.” Major Giveaways Does their Facebook URL match their Display Name? A lot … Read more
Many people are getting a scary type of message right now. It claims to be a legal notice about Walt Disney Studios and copyright infringement. While the email is realistic and scary-looking, I am sure it is a fake. If you receive this Meta Legal Phishing in your inbox, do not cooperate with it! The … Read more
DirecTV subscribers need to beware unexpected calls about upgrading their receivers. Anyone calling you to upgrade or replace your DirecTV receiver is likely a scammer. How The Scam Works A scammer calls and identifies himself as a DirecTV representative. They’ll claim that the DTV receivers in the house urgently need a software update. “We can … Read more
I have a lot of conversations that start with “Did you hear about the big data breach?” My response is typically: “Which one?”, because there are just so many of them. I honestly can’t keep track of all of them. Data breaches are, sadly, common, and there’s very little we can do to prevent them. … Read more