It seems that phishing, the practice of fooling people into giving out their identity through legitimate looking correspondence that simply request it, will not die any time soon.
I've seen pop ups for years hawking stuff. Some even look like your computer is telling you something. Clicking anywhere except the top right-most X (in windows XP) is the only way to kill these. I think most know this - hopefully!
Now, from Jeff Atwood I see a new twist. The phishers make a real looking program box where even the banner at the top is fake and part of the phishing web site. Clicking anywhere causes the browser to attempt to install hacker software on your computer. Yikes. How to get out of this pickle? There is no safe click!
You'd need to know (again for windows) the button combo that causes a program to shut down - simultaneous press of ALT and F4.
How many "normal" users even know about ALT-F4. Seems they better learn it. Educate your parents....
So ALT F4 closes down the "active" window, right?
ReplyDeleteIf I told my parents this, they would never turn on their computer again.
Oh wait, they don't have one. Nevermind. Believ it or not, they SAY they won't get one because they are afriad it will be infected with viruses. I think the believe it is like ebola or AIDS and may be contagious. But they do have the ultimate protection: no computer. 100% safe.
Yeah ALT-F4 closes the active window.
ReplyDeleteYour parents are smarter than most...
and here i thought it was going to be an article on icky bait and rubberized waders.
ReplyDelete