next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects
For the record...
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 2009 06:55:18 -0300 (ADT)
From: Chebucto Community Net Office <office@chebucto.ns.ca>
To All Chebucto Community Net Users:
This email is to alert all of our users to *NEVER* *EVER* give out your
Chebucto Community Net passwords. We will *NEVER* send you an email to ask
you for your passwords for any reason.
We want to make this point very clear to our users. No email claiming to
need your Chebucto Community Net passwords is real or legitimate. Not
today, not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. NEVER!
Criminals will send you emails claiming to represent Chebucto Community
Net asking for your passwords and other personal information. They want
passwords to gain access to your personal information, to use that
information to steal money from people you know or you yourself, and
finally to use your legitimate email address and your good name to send
out thousands of spam emails to people all over the world.
The criminals will try to trick you many different ways to send them your
password. They will say they are system administrators resetting security
systems, they will say that your account is over quota and you need to
send them your password to reset the quota, they will say they need your
password now, right away or they will shut down your account. They may
even claim to be the police, needing your password to catch a crook.
These are all lies trying to trick you into giving them access to your
Chebucto account. You can expect to see this kind of scam email pop up
from time to time as the criminals keep coming back with more and more
ways to try to trick you. Any email asking you for your password will
ALWAYS be a lie from criminals trying to steal from you and from us.
Some of our users are vague on what their password is or why they need to
protect it. They write their logins and passwords on their cheques. They
give their passwords out when they are asked for their logins and they
fall for scams asking them for their passwords.
Chebucto Community Net, like all Internet Service Providers, uses a LOGIN,
which is a name for a customer's account with us, and a PASSWORD, which is
a SECRET that proves to us that the user trying to use our services is who
they say they are. PASSWORDS ARE SECRET. They are like the key to your
house. They are there for your protection and for our protection.
When a scammer gets your password they get your past emails and your
addressbook too. They might send a letter to your family saying they are
you and need emergency money. The thousands of spam messages they send
from your account get Chebucto mail blocked by spam filters at other
providers, which affects all Chebucto users. Your personal information is
stripped out from your emails and sold to other criminals around the
world.
The price tag for a user giving out their password to the criminals is
very high, both for you the user and for the Chebucto staff, who have to
clean up the mess made. As the criminals get more clever, we can expect to
see more and more sly tricks to fool you into giving out your passwords
to them. Don't be fooled!
Chebucto Community Net Passwords
1. Chebucto Community Net will NEVER send out email asking you for your
password. Any emails you see asking for passwords will ALWAYS be fake,
no matter what they say.
2. Users who give out their passwords will have their access immediately
suspended as soon as we find out. The user account may even be
terminated depending on the circumstances. Users should consider
themselves warned that failing to keep passwords secure will have
serious consequences.
3. Any user who gives out their password a second time will have their
account terminated without further notice and be banned from ever
having a Chebucto account again.
Good Password Policies
1. Pick a password that is not a dictionary word, that is eight characters
long and that uses a mixture of numbers and letters. Avoid simple
patterns like ABC123 or your phone number or postal code. Try to use
lower and upper case letters.
2. If you write down your password, put it in a safe secure place,
preferably locked up.
3. DO NOT GIVE OUT YOUR PASSWORD! IT IS A SECRET!
4. It is a very good idea to change your password from time to time. This
can be done from the Chebucto Webmail service (click on Password on
the top of the Webmail window when logged in) or with the g)password
shortcut on the Chebucto text service (when in Lynx, type gpassword
then hit Enter).
Webmasters and Passwords
Webmasters should be careful about site security and access. Criminals may
try to get access with scam emails trying to trick you into giving them
your passwords too. Access to web space can be used by criminals to host
fraudulent scam websites such as fake bank websites or fake pharmacy
sites.
Webmasters using interactive features or publishing software are
responsible for making sure the feature or software is kept updated and
secure. There is an unfortunate tendency for webmasters to "hit and run"
installing an interactive website then forgetting to update the site as
security patches or updates come out. Criminals are constantly probing for
out-of-date software that can be exploited to gain access to the website.
next message in archive
no next message in thread
previous message in archive
Index of Subjects