Daily Archives: April 1, 2015

News, Security

Tax Season and Tax Fraud Season

tax fraud copySource: StaySafe Online Organization

The closer we get to April 15, the more we’ll be scampering around collecting receipts and crunching the numbers in hopes of receiving tax refunds. At the same time, cybercriminals and scammers will be working on ways to separate people from their hard-earned money. It has been reported that more than 360,000 individuals had been targeted by tax scammers since 2013. These tax cybercrimes include tax identity theft, phone scams and phishing. For more information continue to read Tax Season is also Cyber-Crime Season

How can you help protect yourself?

  • File your taxes as early as possible; this is one way to avoid ID theft and a good way to get your refund in a timely fashion.
  • Get two steps ahead and use multi-factor authentication whenever it’s available. Multi-factor authentication, or two-step verification as it is sometimes called, requires an additional step, such as an SMS text to your phone with a one-time code that’s entered after you enter your username and password for an online account. Check with your online tax preparation service to see if it offers multi-factor authentication (it’s usually free, but you need to opt in). It’s good to enable two-step verification on your email account as well, since it’s a core account — if hacked, cybercriminals can easily access other accounts.
  • When in doubt, throw it out. If you have any doubt about the authenticity of any message you receive over email, text or social media, delete it.
  • Hang up on the bad guys. In the vast majority of cases, if the IRS has identified a problem, it will contact you first by mail. The IRS will never request payment by wire transfer, credit card or prepaid debit card.

The IRS’s help page is http://www.irs.gov/Help-&-Resources

Remember to always STOP. THINK. CONNECT.: take security precautions, understand the potential consequences of your actions and behaviors and connect and enjoy the Internet.

Report scams to:

News

Blast from the Past! Archives of 20-year-old UMass Boston Computing Services Newsletters

byteline

 

Deep in the archives of the ITC, Healey Lower Level, has been found a little piece of IT Department history. Then called Computing Services, several staff put out quarterly print newsletters with articles like:

  • How to adjust the clock for daylight savings time on Macintosh OS System 6 and System 7,
  • An announcement of the second edition of the Internet White Pages listing email address for users across the world – organized by name
  • And obituaries for retiring microcomputers like the Apple Iigs and IBM AT

The archives have been scanned and uploaded for you to peruse and be nostalgic. See articles from familiar names like Peter Tofuri, Peter C.S. Adams, Jamil Moosavifard, Linda Perrotto, Daniel Ortiz, and more!

Click Here to see the Byteline Archives!

This collection is incomplete. If you have old copies of BYTELINE, please get in touch with itc@umb.edu, and we can arrange to have them digitized and added to this collection.

byteline2