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OH_dutch
AskWoody LoungerSeptember 16, 2020 at 6:09 am in reply to: how to detect hidden malicious links on website? #2296680I have to agree that the question could be more clearly expressed, and others are posting links to try. My professional opinion for browsing someone else’s website:
- Modern web browsers will display a hyperlink’s resolution address, or URL, when the link is hovered over. If the link’s domain differs from the one in the text, odds are it’s trouble-in-River-City. When in doubt I will email the site webmaster to confirm its validity.
And for received mail:
- Ensure that your personal network, and PCs, stay current on software patches in order to reduce known gotchas.
- Ensure that your PC(s) have firewalls turned on. The default Windows Defender is not fancy but certainly works to divert many attacks.
- Your browser is likely to divert suspected spam mail, including mail addressed in a bulk distribution list.
- Distrust all hyperlinks in any email until you have satisfied that they are legitimate. You may reach out to the sender and request confirmation. For example, a vendor’s disclaimer might mention their legitimate email will never ask the customer to reply with PII as “confirmation”.
To drive home the lesson, my (large federal contractor) employer will periodically slip in official-looking mail that includes a benign bomb. Eventually I wised up and created an email rule to quarantine most all inbound mail. There is an exception clause that provides a whitelist of accepted domains. A smililar rule could catch all inbound mail having attachments.
Good luck from a Dutch Uncle!
1 user thanked author for this post.
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OH_dutch
AskWoody LoungerAgreeing on the Logitech MX Ergo trackball; I’d add a steady thumbs up for the very comfortable fit, programmable functions, and the switch to flip between two different machines (using additional Logi wifi dongles). The unit is weighted, helping me eliminate the traditional problem of a jerky aim.
A second tool that I might mention is a “smart” keyboard such as the Microsoft Natural one: The function keys, plus the top row of pre-programmed ones are easily reassigned to macros, or playback of keystroke sequences.
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Patch reliability is unclear, but widespread attacks make patching prudent. Go ahead and patch, but watch out for potential problems. |
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