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Remote Computer Access

3/20/2020

1 Comment

 
Remote computer access products have been around for a long time and are particularly useful now with our current shelter-in-home mandates due to the Covid-19 virus. They typically involve two pieces of software: one on the computer you wish to access remotely and the other on the computer you are using to access the remote computer (i.e. the local computer). When properly set up, one is able to see everything on the remote screen and control the remote keyboard and mouse. It is as if you are sitting in front of the remote computer and even works with multiple monitors attached to the remote computer.

The faster the internet service is on both the remote computer and the local computer the better the experience. Most of the approaches also allow you to redirect print outs from the remote computer to your local printer. Many solutions support both Windows and Mac systems. Prices vary greatly among the various products, from expensive to free.

The products I list below are the most common, with starting prices shown as of this date. The list is by no means conclusive, but will give you a good idea of your options.

  • LogMeIn Pro; $349.99/year access 2 computers
  • GoToMyPC: $35/computer/month
  • TeamViewer: $49/month access up to 200 computers, one session at a time (free for personal use)
  • RemotePC: $22.12 first year/access to 2 computers
  • Splashtop: $5/month access to 2 computers
  • Windows Remote Desktop (Windows 10 Pro or higher): free
  • Mac only (SSH in terminal; free) or Apple Remote Desktop ($79.99)
LogMeIn Pro is certainly one of the best known options, but as you can see it is expensive, as is GoToMyPC.

TeamViewer pricing is equally expensive. They do offer a free version, but that version is strictly for personal, non-commercial use. Also, I have seen the free version either time out after 5 minutes or pester the user with pop-ups warning it is not to be used in commercial environments.

Other than free, RemotePC is the least expensive product and is the one I always recommend.

I used to use SplashTop a lot and it works very well, but RemotePC does the same thing and is less expensive.

Windows Remote Desktop is available in most Windows systems (not Windows Home) and can be freely used, but can be difficult to set up, often requiring special port forwarding settings in the network router.

On Macs, a facility known as Secure Shell (SSH) is available, but it has to be invoked via a command line interface in Terminal, so likely is too complex for most of my customers. It also requires port forwarding settings in the network router.

Apple Remote Desktop works much like Windows Remote Desktop, requiring a variety of settings in the remote computer. It also requires port forwarding settings in the network router. It can be purchased at the App Store.

You might ask what product do I use? I purchased a platform called SimpleHelp which for a one time price I can access up to 1000 computers remotely. I currently have connections to 354 computers, so plenty of capacity remains. And, SimpleHelp can be used simultaneously with any of the products listed above.

If you have further questions or want help setting remote computer access up, get a hold of me.
1 Comment

Email Hacked

3/8/2020

1 Comment

 
Over the past two weeks, I’ve had two customers hacked in very similar ways. Both involved the hacker gaining access to my customers’ email accounts and then sending emails out to all of their contacts. One was a sbcglobal.net account and the other was an att.net account. Both these email systems are actually implemented by Yahoo, so really they were both hacks of Yahoo accounts.

In the first case, my customer was pretty sure that she fell for a phishing attack in which she thought she was entering her email password for a legitimate reason (securing her account), but really she was entering her password on a forged website made to look legitimate. In the second case, my customer had no idea how the hacker got her email password. Yahoo has had several massive attacks where accounts and passwords were stolen, so perhaps that is how it happened. 

In the first case, this is the email the hacker sent out from my customer’s account:

Subject: Favor…..<customer’s name>

Hi there,

I need a favor from you. I’d appreciate if you could email me back asap.

Thanks
<customer’s name>

If replied to, this was followed by: 

I need to get a Nordstrom Gift Card for my Nephew, Its his birthday but i can't do this now because I'm currently traveling. Can you get it from any store around you? I'll pay back as soon as i am back.

Kindly let me know if you can handle this.

<customer’s name>

In the second case, this is the email the hacker sent out:

Subject: Help…...<customer’s name>

I hope your week is going great? Actually, Please I need to get an eBay Gift Card for my niece, its her birthday but I can’t do this now because I’m currently traveling, Can you help get it from any store around you? I’ll pay back as soon as I am back. Kindly let me know if you can handle this so I can tell you how much to get.

Thank you so much,

<customer’s name>

If the victim (i.e, the person receiving the email) falls for this, the hacker will then ask for the gift card numbers after which they can easily drain the gift card of it’s cash value.

Upon being contacted by my customers, here is what I did and what you should do should this happen to you:

1) Via any web browser, log into your email account
2) Change the password. If you used the same or similar password on other accounts, change them there too. Pick great passwords!
3) Check all your email settings to make sure they are correct. In particular:
  • Check the reply to field to make sure it is your email address
  • Check if an automatic forward or automatic reply has been set (if you can’t find these settings, you may need to change your email view to basic; this is the case on Yahoo)
  • Check email rules and filters to make sure none have been set
  • Check your signature if you have one
  • Check your account recovery information
  • Add two factor authentication
  • Change the answers to your security questions so that they are false. You should do this here and everywhere. It can simply be done by adding another word to the end of your security question answer.
4) Email all your contacts and let them know you have been hacked and to ignore any emails asking for gift cards or looking unusual in any way. Encourage them to call you if they receive a strange email from you before replying to make sure it really came from you.

In my customers’ cases, I found the following settings:
  • Every email was automatically forwarded. In one case, a gmail account had been created in the customer’s name to receive the forwarded emails
  • A rule with the name of “.” was created to move every received email into either the Archive folder or the Trash folder
These settings meant that every email my customer received would be sent to the hacker and deleted from my customer’s inbox.

This hack can happen to anyone. Be vigilant in case it happens to you!
1 Comment

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    Hi!  This is Steve. I've created this blog to share technology information relevant to you: the home or small business user of computers and mobile devices.

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