Tag: virus

Gmail’s Last Account Activity Feature Shows Who’s Been Accessing Your Account

* * * Today’s post is brought to you by ESET Smart Security, the tech security product I’ve used and trusted for many years. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Worried Someone’s Been Mucking About In Your Gmail Account? Whether your concern is over a potential hack or a snooping partner or family member, if you use Gmail there’s an easy way to tell if anyone other than you has been accessing your email: Last Account Activity. To access this amazingly wonderful and helpful Gmail feature, scroll to the bottom of your inbox and look for the Last Account Activity Details link (tap or click on images to view an enlarged version in a new browser tab or window). When you click on that link, you’re shown a listing of the times…

Infected Fire Tablet? Here’s A Possible Solution.

* * * the Gomadic Essential Charger Kit for the Amazon Kindle Fire / HD / HDX / DX / Touch / Keyboard (WiFi and 3G), currently (as of 12/31/14) on sale at 33% off and also eligible for Prime shipping. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Moneypak / FBI / Ransomware Virus On Your Fire? Fire tablets infected with this particular monster often bypass the usual startup routine and go right to the virus screen, which makes it impossible for the owner to even reset their Fire to factory defaults. Since that reset is just about the only hope you have of restoring your Fire to full functionality, it’s a problem. This week, I learned of a possible solution (from an Amazon Discussions poster who never explicitly granted me permission to…

Malware Update: FBI Moneypak / Ransomware Virus On Kindle Fire and How To Avoid It

* * * the Amazon’s 50% Off Sale On SD Memory Cards. Advertisers make it possible for Digital Media Mom to bring you great content each day for free, so thanks for your support. * * * Yes, The FBI Moneypak / Ransomware Virus Is Starting To Show Up On Kindle Fire Tablets, But… …that doesn’t mean ALL Kindle Fire owners EVERYWHERE need to worry about it. Be alert, sure. But as I explained in my original DMM post about this particular virus, so long as you only get your apps and other content from Amazon, don’t hack or “root” your Kindle Fire, and don’t open any suspicious email attachments from within the email app on the Fire, you can relax because your chances of getting this beast are very, very slim and provided you haven’t “rooted” your Fire or sideloaded the app/file that brought Moneypak along with it, getting rid of…

Do You Need To Worry About the FBI Ransomware / FBI MoneyPak Virus On Your Mobile Thingies?

I recently got a question about The FBI Ransomware Trojan, which is also known as the FBI MoneyPak virus. A commenter raised the question in the comments section of my earlier post, Does Your Kindle Fire Need Virus Protection? What’s “FBI Ransomware”? This specific Trojan / virus is an especially nasty one, as it essentially locks you out of your computer or mobile device until you pay whatever fee it’s asking in order to release the lock. It’s got “FBI” in the name because the extortion pop-up says the FBI has identified some kind of threat on your machine and will remove it in exchange for a fee, usually $100, to be paid by credit card. So these hackers get $100 immediately, plus the duped consumer’s credit card number. Making matters worse, making that payment won’t necessarily unlock your computer or device. Even if it does work, it’s only a matter of…

Kindle Fire HDX Antivirus – Do You Need It?

I’ve previously written about the pointlessness of antivirus protection for the Kindle Fire line of tablets (see my post, Kindle Fire Antivirus: You Still Don’t Need It), but the new HDX line of Fires adds a new wrinkle since they all come with the option for 4G cell service connectivity. In my prior posts on this topic, I discussed how some hackers target cell phones specifically to add bogus charges to the phone owners’ bills. Many, if not most, cell phone owners won’t notice small charges scattered across an entire month, but they add up quickly. Some hackers go for broke right out of the gate and try to make a single, large bogus charge to the phone owner’s bill (usually masquerading as some kind of pay-by-the-minute service, like a party line or psychic reading service). They sometimes get away with it because these types of charges are made to the phone owner’s account immediately…