Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Let's talk ransomware.

If you haven't heard by now, there is another computer attack going on. It's a thing called ransomware which is a word that, if you pay attention, you will see contains the word "ransom".

This is the second significant wave of this particular type of attack. The first one was a few months ago and it was called "wannacry".

Wannacry was an amateur attempt to hold computers hostage and collect a ransom. It failed because the author was vain and included code that had the computer call out to a server on the internet so he (or she) could tell how many victims they had.

The solution was to shutdown access to the server and the ransomware package failed.

This one is different. It simply infects the computer, encrypts all the data and tells the user, "Hey! I got your stuff and if you want it back you have to send $300 in Bitcoin to this address."

This is bad for two reasons. The first being that most people effected by this don't have $300 in Bitcoin and the second being that the address given no longer exists so even if you do have $300 to give them, they can't get it anymore because the email address has been shut down.

Here's what I want you all to remember:

SamsClub, CVS, Walmart, Amazon, etc... aren't going to send you an email saying, "Thank you [email address] from [popular merchant]. Click here for a $50.00 gift certificate!"

There is no $50.00 gift certificate, only a bad thing from a bad person trying to get your money or personal information. Don't click on it.

Oh, and one other thing, if you are using Kaspersky as your anti-virus protection, you should probably delete it and find a new anti-virus provider.


Bill Belichick and his girlfriend recently did a magazine interview with Nantucket Magazine and there were some pictures taken.

Here's the best comment I've seen about those pictures:

You gotta admit, that's kinda funny.


The Red Sox are in first place by one game. Let's hope they stay in first place.

While I yell encouraging words at them via my special coaching TV, you can visit these links:

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