By Staff
April 7, 2015
BURLINGTON, ON
The Identity theft operators are at it 24/7. They just churn out phony email messages and send them to lists of names that they buy For pennies apiece or use names they have hacked from some insecure web site or server.
And how many insecure web sites are there out there? Listen to this:
The July 14, 2015, deadline for which Microsoft will end support for Windows Server 2003 is final and will not be extended. And with fewer than 100 days to go, the software vendor is intensifying its efforts to encourage to move to its latest version of the platform, Windows Server 2012 R2.
Gartner, a respected services consulting company reckons there are eight million Windows Server 2003 OS instances in operation. Others reckons that of those instances, a full 20 per cent – 1.6 million – will blow past the 14 July end-of-support date.
What happens six months from now, on 14 July? That’s the date Microsoft issues its last security fix ever for Window Server 2003 – the end of extended support from the server operating system’s maker.
That means any new hacks built or vulnerabilities discovered in Windows Server 2003 and those running the legacy server OS will be facing them on their own.
It’s a problem if your server systems hold data of any kind – which they will – and could be accessed directly or indirectly from the internet.
Server systems are generally thought isolated from external attackers, but last year’s attack on Sony Pictures put an end to that illusion.
For a company that might be using this security service it would seem like a reasonable request – but the receiver of this email didn’t use the service. For those stealing data – all they have to do is catch one person who doesn’t realize it is a false request.
The following came across our computer screen. First we are not an ADP Security clients – and if you look closely at the email address they claim to have sent from it isn’t difficult to spot the error.
A bookkeeper who is handling your payables might not catch this kind of thing – drill into them the need to be careful and cautious – the down side when these identity thieves get a grip on your web site are very expensive.
