Monthly Archives: March 2016

News

Phishing season in full swing as tax deadline looms

Associated Press – Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Tax day is a little more than a month away, which means phishing season is in full swing.The IRS says it’s seen a “surge” this year in phishing emails, with thieves baiting special hooks for payroll and human-resources workers in hopes of snagging a company’s entire stash of employee Social Security numbers and other personal information.

Meanwhile, tax-season phishing attacks against individuals are also up. Last month, the IRS said it had seen a quadrupling of phishing- and malware-related incidents for this year’s tax season.

Experts warn that phishing emails often masquerade as legitimate communication from your bank, human resources department or email provider. But in reality, they’re part of a scheme designed to steal the confidential information stored in your computer, or to gain access to the network it’s attached to. And this time of year, that information can be used to file a false tax return.

While people are more aware of the danger of phishing more than ever before, the lures continue to evolve and increase in sophistication, making it tough for the average person to discern which emails are legitimate and which ones aren’t.

To read more visit — http://a.msn.com/r/2/AAgzcgt?a=1&m=EN-US

Update Notifications

Microsoft Security Patches – March

On March 8th, 2016, Microsoft released security patches for:

  • Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista, RT, RT8.1
  • Windows servers 2012, 2008, 2003
  • Microsoft Office 2016; 2013; 2010, 2007

We strongly encourage you to apply these patches to your PC as soon as possible. For information about these updates please visit: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/security/ms16-mar.aspx

 Click on the Windows logo located on the lower left hand corner of your computer screen, a menu will appear, click on “Control Panel”.
Once in the Control Panel, type the words “windows update” in the Search Control Panel field located in the upper right hand corner. As you do, the following screen will immediately appear.

 Now, in the upper left handle corner, click the words “check for update”. This screen will appear

 Click the “Check for updates” button to begin the checking. The following screen will appear after the checking is completed. All Important Updates must be installed. Click the “Install updates” button to begin the installation. You will need to reboot your computer to finish the installation later.

 Alternatively, if you are using Internet Explorer you can click on Tools > and select Windows Update to install the latest security patches.
For questions please call the Service Desk at 617-287-5220 or via email at ITServiceDesk@umb.edu.