This is a repeat of a blog I published two years ago.  I am repeating it because I continue to get calls from customers who either have fallen for this scam or are about to.

Here is the blog:
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!

The latest macOS operating system is now available. It is called Ventura or macOS 13. Like all new major operating system releases, it has many new features and is free to install on existing hardware. In this blog, I will tell you how to prepare your Mac for installation.

Let me begin by recommending that you do NOT install Ventura – at least not yet. A new major operating system release is a big deal and I always recommend that you wait until one or two bug releases have been made available. 

Supported Macs

These are the computers that you can install Ventura on if and when you are ready to proceed:

• 2017 iMac/iMac Pro and later
  
• 2018 MacBook Air and later
  
• 2017 MacBook Pro and later
  
• 2019 Mac Pro and later
  
• 2018 Mac mini and later
  
• 2017 MacBook and later
  
• 2022 Mac Studio and later
  

If your Mac is older than the above models, know that Apple still releases security updates and new Safari updates for Big Sur (macOS 11) and Monterey (macOS 12) and large app developers such as Google and Microsoft usually support even older versions, at least for a year or two. But be aware that if you are running the latest version of iOS on your iPhone or iPad, you might run into some compatibility issues if you fall behind on your Mac.
Storage
You can check on your storage situation by going to About This Mac and selecting the Storage tab. Ventura requires about 35gb of free storage. So, if you don’t have at least that much free, you need to get busy deleting.
Backup
Before beginning the installation process, make sure you have a current backup. Use of Apple’s Time Machine and an external hard drive is the simplest way to create a robust backup.
Installation
The simplest way to install Ventura is to either go to System Preferences and select “Software Update” or go to the Apple Store and find it there.
There are many new features in Ventura you will find interesting. Just Google “macOS Ventura features” to learn all about them.
Finally a word about Windows 11: if you are being nagged to install Windows 11, that means your computer is compatible with Windows 11 and you certainly good go ahead and upgrade. However, there is no rush since Windows 10 will be supported until October 14, 2025. There are many things different about the Windows 11 user interface, so if you don’t like change, I would stay with Windows 10 for now. However, if you like the challenge of learning new things, then Windows 11 might be just for you. If you do decide to upgrade to Windows 11, be sure to back up your files first. And if you do upgrade and decide you don’t like Windows 11, you have 10 days in which you can roll back to Windows 10.
Good luck!