Internet security issues

[hedgerowpete]

what am i doing wrong?

I change pass words regulary, all updates and security programmes up to date. I dont click on emails with links, I have scans for malware and key loggers and so forth.

yet today when i ordered a book from Amazon

I have now had 18 emails all dodgey, with phishing links all saying my Amazon order is delayed/cancelled/refunded/refused.

The strange thing is Ihave six email accounts,none are linked to each other and noneemail each other. yet i get 7 emails to the email account linked to Amazon, but also to the rest of the accounts.

What is getting the sale information from the saler to the spammers, I get that we all get phishing emails and most are just pot luck ideas that might or might not be of interest. but all 18 were Amazon based and two had homebrew beer books as part of the scam

 

[Chippy_Tea]

What are you using to view the site and emails and which antivirus are you using?

 

[hedgerowpete]

anti virus is windows and AVG
internet is via mozilla fox
we did a scan today,logged up nothing

 

[Chippy_Tea]

How do you know they are dodgy emails

 

[dad_of_jon]

assuming you typed www.amazon.co.uk into the browser and your a/v stuff came up clean it's possible that an amazon trader's IT has been infected and is scraping amazon orders and capturing your email address. If of course your amazon orders are only with amazon rather supplied by a 3rd party, try malwarebytes on your device.

 

[Ninkasi]

Some comments....

1. try another browser. Brave is another good one (also try this on another device)
2. download zonealarm, run again to see if another program catches malware
3. dont use passwords, use passphrases and if possible (as is with amazon) use two step verification. This sends a message to your mobile of activity on the account.
4. make sure all the devices on your network are checked, inc phones, ipads etc
5. Report to amazon

 

[hedgerowpete]

How do you know they are dodgy emails

to be fair i dont. i see the email address is wrong and the links are not a clearly definded name but "GTR654DRKBVFTG" also its not in first language english but second, so i am thinking its spam bait.

the main pointer has to be, amazon account is linked to email account A, the four emails direct to this account all had the wrong emails for it to be true amazon. but thats the only email account. i am getting pop up adverts to the side of the main screen, my personal email account has attracked these emails so has the other email accounts i have. I was wondering if its come via a facebook or instagram links

 

[johncrobinson]

Internet secutity is in truth a facade
There are globaly groups of very clever people who have made it there lifes work cracking Windows and browser systems,
They have as many motives for doing this as there are grains of sand on a beach.

Its like the British weather if you want to live in Britain you have to accept the climate.
If you use the internet you are going to be data mined.(At the very least)You might not like it,but there is little you can do.
The general public have adopted the internet like lambs to the slaughter.

After doing all the usual precautions the best you can do is to make absolutley sure you are covered with your Bank against financial fraud.

What can i say "Wellcome to the brave new world"

 

[johncrobinson]

I should add I myself am data mined for using this forum (only forum of which i am a member).
Who is doing it I have no idea.

Also I have never ever purchased ANYTHING online EVER,yet still if i turn off my add blocker I get bombarded with adds for homebrew stuff.

PS. I also dont use social media,Facebook,twitter,ect ect.

 

[hedgerowpete]

Cheersall for the tips. I sudder to think about how lax I used to be on internet awarness, not so much security but awarness.

It must just be surface mining. Going to spend tomorrow changing every thing like passwords and rechecking internet security privacy levels, I think I will delete a load of programmes and re- install. might change out the add blocker I use to.

As for face book I used to be all over it, hundreds of pages, radio-beer-wine and a hundred others, got feed up with the constaint mining and trolls and keyboard warriors. Most are not of any use anyway and certainly not worth the abuse that comes with it. Still on 20 pages but need those to help follow the grand kids and big kids. Out of all of the them face book covers the family the most, so we dont do twitter or snap chat and instagram is only a read only event, zero posts. I have also dropped a lot of forums as well, pre facebook, forums were where every one went to. I used to be on hundreds now its just four and this one like the rest its 90% search and read. Gone back to paper books where I am far more comfortable.

 

[johncrobinson]

Yes hedgerow its about all you can reallistically do.

 

[hedgerowpete]

Yes hedgerow its about all you can reallistically do.

asa technophobe, i can go so far, but the people that do know can go a lot further, i allow out there what i am comfortable withand whats needed, but bu***r the rest

 

[kelper]

I would definitely contact Amazon with details of the seller you interacted with. You could also set your browser to delete all cookies on exit.

The free version of Malwarebytes is very good. CCleaner is an excellent program to clean all the leftovers, cookies, browser histories etc which is where the miners may be tracking your interests. I use a password manager so I only need to remember one password. All my site passwords are a random string of characters, upper and lower case, numbers and symbols.

Protecting your email is vital. If a crook gets access to your email they can use it to reset all your web passwords. It might be worth investing in a top grade anti-virus like Kaspersky, Bit Defender or Webroot. I use Webroot SecureAnywhere Complete - five devices for £15 a year.

As someone said, use pass phrases. They are easier to remember. Something like where&did&I&go&wrong - that won't appear in any word list. (until today!)

 

[St00]

Your AVG won't pick up Adware/Spyware. Download Spybot S&D and give that a run. Run it and update it. Restart your PC to Safemode and then do a scan.

 

[St00]

The free version of Malwarebytes is very good

Yes it is. Update it and run it from safemode, that'd do the same job as Spybot S&D/Adaware etc.

 

[johncrobinson]

Re kelper :> I used to have an interest in encryption i am afraid your pass phrase is not strong
Why because it is in English.
The fact that the messages to the U boats eventually ended up in plain German is one of the things that made it possible to crack enigma.

Whilst the above is of mainly academic interest.Internet security for financial transactions is important.I think the best defence is insurance or contractual obligation to reimbursement for any losses due to breaches.
Being a little guy also helps,No one is going to spend months trying hack my accounts.
A big corporate is a differant matter.
That said many countries do not allow export of strong encription for security purposes.USA for example

As far as being monitored on line and profiles built up there is not much that can be done.
There are also stronger more security savvy operating systems than Windows.Microsoft has been a prime target for years.

I will close by saying criminals asside many companies collect information about internet users within the framework of existing laws.This info is a valueble commodity and is openly sold on.

 

[kelper]

I have never received any spam that related to any of my hobbies or interests. I only use Gmail, perhaps their protection is good. I have a NetcomUK email but I use Gmail to collect it. Sometimes, Gmail warns me that an email contained a virus and left it on Netcom's server. I've been using computers since before the BBC Micro. I have never had a virus activate although I have downloaded some by accident. Windows Defender is pretty good now but I still advise family to buy an antivirus if they browse carelessly.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Your AVG won't pick up Adware/Spyware. Download Spybot S&D

I have been using AVG for years and according to this it does -

Thank you for being patient.
Yes, AVG Internet Security is fully capable of preventing, detecting and removing the majority of all viruses, spyware and rootkit software.
The free version of AVG contains the same anti-spyware protection like AVG Internet Security.
In the paid version, you also get an extra layer of ransomware protection, webcam protection, enhanced firewall or DNS hijacking protection.
You can find full product comparison on this website: https://www.avg.com/all-products .

 

[MmmmCitra]

Wonder if it's anything to do with Windows stopping support for Windows 7 from Monday 14th ??
Do you run using Windows 7 ??

https://venturebeat.com/2020/01/14/microsoft-ends-support-for-windows-7-what-you-need-to-know/

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I also use Ccleaner if you use it make sure you know all your passwords for all your sites before you run it - https://filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/



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