Okay friends.
The number one question we get here at the shop is how come I have up-to-date protection and I still get hijacked. I will try to explain. If you can muddle thru this long post, I will try not to be too technical and give you some tips on how to avoid the traps.
Unless you learn to protect yourself and to clean your computer from time to time you will be doomed. Doomed that is to paying someone else to do it for you. It is not Farmville, Mafia Wars, Super Poke Pets or any of the other APPS fault that you get hacked – it is yours. It is you who clicked the link that takes you to the site that downloads and installs the bad stuff.
Everyday I read status comments on Facebook and MySpace of people complaining about how their favorite APP is not working in one way or another. When your APP does not ‘work’ or act like you expect it to my suggestion is for you to immediately quit trying and close the browser. This is because most of the hijacks are the result of what we call “redirect hacks”.
How it happens.
For you to get from your favorite social networking site to your favorite APP, you have to click a link on a menu bar. That link is what gets hijacked. You think it is taking you to your APP but it is not. The link is rewritten. Basically instead of taking you to www.farmville.com, the link is rewritten to take you to: www.hackmycomputer.com. You may click on the link a hundred times and it works okay each time but on an unlucky day you click it and the hacker robot sees it and you are immediately taken to the hacker site.
Of course you the user are sitting there. Furious that Farmville is not working again and greets you with a blank or incomplete screen. All your tools are not there, your chickens are missing, you have no trees, no fertilize. What is really happening is the evil hacker site is working hard to install bad software on your computer while you sit there trying to be patient and yet mad at the same time. The longer you stay there the worse it gets.
That brings us to RULE #1.
Don’t sit there cursing the APP. Immediately exit the browser. If you cannot close the browser then turn the darn machine off. If the APP does not react as you expect it to within the first few seconds then do not wait – it might not successfully hijack you this time but eventually it will.
Redirect hacks also infect things like gifts. You know that last nail or board you need to finish the barn. Someone sends you a gift. The nasty ole hijacker knows this and so it watches for the Farmville link for that gift and when it finds it it rewrites it. So instead of taking you to your APP to receive that last nail someone so kindly sent you. It is rewritten to take you to www.av7.com/html (Antivirus 7 is a common malware hack) where good ole Antivirus 7 or Antivirus 2010, or PC Security is secretly installed.
That brings up RULE #2.
Beware gifts. If you click to receive a gift and you do not see that gift pretty quickly – don’t blame the APP. You are getting hacked.
These hacks work well because neither the social networking site nor the APP can do anything about it. They can change the link periodically so the hacker does not know about the changes but no matter what they eventually discover the name of the link that facebook uses to take you to Farmville.
I play Mobsters and I get energy passed to me all the time. The hijack robot knows this and so each time I accept the energy by clicking on the link my computer is at risk. Some days I get a hack attempt every time I try to accept energy. Sometimes not. The big thing is that I know that when things work right, I click on the link I am taken to my comment page and a box shows up saying I successfully received energy. I click ok and move on. On a bad day – it takes too long, never happens, I get a blank page. Then I know to stop immediately and get out of that browser session.
Using your favorite APPS webpage.
Does your favorite APP have a web page. All of mine do. You can go to Farmville.com and play your game. Going to the website does not let you do everything you want to do but it lets you do most of the stuff you need to do to keep your plants alive and well or the cattle fed. By going to the apps website you bypass the risk of the link redirect hack.
On my favorite apps I do everything I can at the website and only access the APP from the social networking site when I absolutely need to – like add friends, manage resources, help harvest. Each of my favorite apps has a shortcut link saved in the favorites of my browser. By directly accessing the website you reduce the chance of being hijacked.
Many of the APPS websites even offer incentives for you to go there so by using the website you not only get game benefits, but you reduce your risk.
Some of the common links I know are: www.farmville.com, www.playdom.com (Mobsters), www.sling.com or www.supperpokepets.com (Super Poke Pets). Many of the apps can be found at www.zynga.com (Mafia Wars, Dragon, etc). So take the time to find out where the website for your favorite APP is and go there to play your game as much as possible. The APP owners are very good at making sure their websites are well managed and safe.
Rule # 3 is very simple.
Make a shortcut in your browser favorites list to your favorite APP and avoid the redirect hack as much as possible. When you do accept energy, gifts, supplies, friends or any such things from your APP then be aware and careful. Do not sit there in hopes that all important cow that somebody sent you from Farmville will eventually show up. Or the page will finish loading. This is not the time to be patient. Kill the processes as soon as you begin to think something is wrong.
If you accept a gift now and the link is bad all is not lost. If you terminate the session and come back to it the likelihood is that when you click the link the next time, it will not be hacked and will give you that all important gift.
The important thing is that no amount of security software can protect you. It is you who are the first line of defense. If I have worked on your computer and cleaned it once then I encourage you to learn to use the tools and be aware. Those two things are your best defense.
About the software suite we installed for you.
Each of the tools we install for you – get to know them. Recognize their alert sounds, dialogue boxes and features. When a window pops up and says your computer is infected. If that window does not have the name of a program from your installed security suite, then STOP – Immediately shut down the computer. Hold the power button down and count to ten. If that does not work the unplug it. DO NOT click on anything or you will allow the malicious software to install.
If you respond quickly – when you restart the machine everything will be okay. If not the clean up should be easily handled by your security suite software. Please remember STOP. Turn off the machine. Turning off the internet or closing the pop up boxes will only let the already downloaded components complete the install. Remember that to be safe you must turn off the machine as quickly as possible.
Last thing.
Even if you have not ‘seen’ anything or nothing triggers your alerts your computer can be hijacked. If things work well the security software will prevent it, the browser will crash, you will lock up on the blank page. But – if your computer is slower than normal and some thing's just seem off then it is likely you are infected. This is why it is important for you to use the tools in your security suite on a regular basis. The hack may not have made it thru today, but the tracking cookie that opens the door may have. Contact us if you have questions about how to use your security suite.
There – you made it all the way through the post. Now you can have fun with your apps and be more in control of your future.
No comments:
Post a Comment