Don't be like Patrick, give me a call.

UNLOCKING A PHONE I had a lady ask me to unlock an Apple iPhone last week. When she dropped the phone to me and I discussed it with her it was not unlocking she needed. Unlocking a phone involves removing the network lock put there by the mobile company so that you can use it with another network. What this lady required was access to the phone's apple ID account which was locked out. This is a security feature put there by Apple in case your phone is stolen. If you lose or forget your Apple ID password you cannot reset the phone or access the Itunes or the App store. There are methods whereby you can reset your password but it can become complicated and time consuming. This is something I can do as a service for people and I have a success rate of around 75%. If you are in trouble with your phone similar to this then do not hesitate to give me a call or message me.

I have only ever had one other melted laptop. Left on a cooker and no one realised the cooker was on. That laptop died a sad death :(. THe other day I got the one in the pictures. It has survived 6 months like this. It is now fitted with a new base and going strong

Another attack under way. Watch out for strange emails. http://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0628/886090-cyber-attack/

Another fake email in my inbox this morning. This one they have actually gone to the bother of using the same green colour as used by revenue ...............:) Still fake though.

SO the WannCry ransomeware virus is still in the news today. I see the HSE has taken the decision to keep their networks disconnected. The HSE obviously have a huge system and I know they are working to secure all their computers. However no-one is talking about how you actually get this Virus. As I said before it comes in through an email. It will be an attachment that may look ok but is not. It could look like a word document or a PDF file. It could be "your invoice" or "Credit on your account". It will be designed to fool you into opening it. IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBTS ABOUT AN INCOMING EMAIL - DO NOT OPEN IT. Seek advice, even ask a colleague. Managers please make your staff aware of this. Staff make your managers aware, its worth while getting together for 10 minutes in the office to make sure everyone is aware of what is going on. If your network is not up to date the virus will spread to every corner and encrypt all your data. Do not blindly depend on your anti virus program to to deal with this threat. Knowledge is the best prevention. Below is a quote from the Norton site giving good advice. What are best practices for protecting against ransomware? New ransomware variants appear on a regular basis. Always keep your security software up to date to protect yourself against them. Keep your operating system and other software updated. Software updates will frequently include patches for newly discovered security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by ransomware attackers. Email is one of the main infection methods. Be wary of unexpected emails especially if they contain links and/or attachments. Be extremely wary of any Microsoft Office email attachment that advises you to enable macros to view its content. Unless you are absolutely sure that this is a genuine email from a trusted source, do not enable macros and instead immediately delete the email. Backing up important data is the single most effective way of combating ransomware infection. Attackers have leverage over their victims by encrypting valuable files and leaving them inaccessible. If the victim has backup copies, they can restore their files once the infection has been cleaned up. However organizations should ensure that back-ups are appropriately protected or stored off-line so that attackers can’t delete them. Using cloud services could help mitigate ransomware infection, since many retain previous versions of files, allowing you to “roll back” to the unencrypted form.

Encryption Virus So this morning the news is full of a virus attack which has gone global. This encryption virus called WannCry or WCRY is as nasty as they come. THe NHS in the UK has had a major melt down over this. If you get this virus, all your files will be encrypted and even if you pay the ransom (which you should not) there is no guarantee you will get your data back. The virus seems to have attacked computers that are out of date. The NHS in the UK are still largely running Windows XP. They are paying for this now. The virus comes in through email. Please be very careful opening any suspicious email. Just delete them. Even an email from a friend that doesnt use your name or has broken english. DELETE IT!! Be careful out there.

Another Bank scam this morning. Havent been getting these lately but this arrived today. ITS FAKE !!! Have a look at the link and where it takes you to. Also - I dont bank with BOI.

Another nasty email in today. A very simple looking one but definitely a fake. Allot of people get their bills by email now. Look at the email address it came from. Also no mention of my account number or my name. Add to that my email program has blocked a file *******pdf..js - this is a java script file and 100% virus.

So I got this fake email this morning. Please delete these immediately. We all know the revenue doesnt send you refunds by email. Take a look at the picture. The email address is "digiweb". All credit to digiweb but Revenue do NOT use digiweb. Also look that the link where it says Refund. God knows what is at the end of that.