Bin Laden wrote the text of emails on his computer at his home in northern Pakistan, then had a courier copy it to a thumb drive and send the message from a remote Internet cafe. For incoming emails, the process was reversed. Using this method, bin Laden was able to write a very large number of emails without being electronically tracked.
Although this meticulous way of communicating helped bin Laden stay in hiding for so long, it also helped U.S. intelligence operatives retrieve a huge amount of data. After killing bin Laden, Navy SEALs recovered about 100 flash drives that contained much of his email communication.
The U.S. government has enlisted Arabic speakers from the intelligence community to help examine the contents of the drives. So far, they’ve discovered a number of email addresses and phone numbers, and the information will likely lead to subpoenas of Internet service providers and additional investigations around the globe.
One of the popular options is that you use a tool like Microsoft Outlook to download all your emails to the computer beforehand and you can then read them anywhere even in offline mode. Both Gmail and Hotmail offer POP3 access to help you download messages using any email client while there are easy workarounds for Yahoo Mail.
There are some downsides though. First, most email clients aren’t portable (can you carry emails on a USB drive?) and second, if all you want is offline access to your Gmail messages and nothing extra, Outlook is probably too heavy a tool for that purpose.
An utility called MailStore that seems like an ideal solution for such a problem – the tool is free, there’s a portable version for your USB stick and best of all, it works out of the box with your email account without requiring any configuration.
Step by Step – How to Backup your Emails
The way MailStore works is something like this. You install (or unzip) the software to a folder and then select the email accounts that you want to archive. They can be your Gmail accounts, Microsoft Exchange, your old Outlook PST files, Thunderbird and any other web email service that supports either IMAP or POP3.
Related:
Wondering how to transfer contacts from one Outlook account to another? Microsoft Outlook stores your contacts in its .pst, or personal folders, files. You can transfer contacts between .pst files on the same computer or even a different computer with the .pst file. http://www.brighthub.com/computing/windows-platform/articles/114969.aspx#ixzz1MLj4BpwX
E-Mails Containing Malware Sent to Businesses Concerning Their Online Job Postings
01/19/2011—Recent FBI analysis reveals that cyber criminals engaging in ACH/wire transfer fraud have targeted businesses by responding via e-mail to employment opportunities posted online.
Recently, more than $150,000 was stolen from a U.S. business via unauthorized wire transfer as a result of an e-mail the business received that contained malware. The malware was embedded in an e-mail response to a job posting the business placed on an employment website and allowed the attacker to obtain the online banking credentials of the person who was authorized to conduct financial transactions within the company. The malicious actor changed the account settings to allow the sending of wire transfers, one to the Ukraine and two to domestic accounts. The malware was identified as a Bredolab variant, svrwsc.exe. This malware was connected to the ZeuS/Zbot Trojan, which is commonly used by cyber criminals to defraud U.S. businesses.
The FBI recommends that potential employers remain vigilant in opening the e-mails of prospective employees. Running a virus scan prior to opening any e-mail attachments may provide an added layer of security against this type of attack. The FBI also recommends that businesses use separate computer systems to conduct financial transactions.
For more information on this type of fraud and prevention tips, please refer to previous public service announcements at the links below:
Anyone who believes they have been a target this type of attack should immediately contact their financial institutions and local FBI office and promptly report it to the IC3’s website at www.ic3.gov. The IC3’s complaint database links complaints together to refer them to the appropriate law enforcement agency for case consideration. The IC3 also uses complaint information to identify emerging trends and patterns.
12/01/2010—The IC3 receives a high volume of complaints from victims of payday loan telephone collection scams. In these scams, a caller claims that the victim is delinquent in a payday loan and must repay the loan to avoid legal consequences. The callers purport to be representatives of the FBI, Federal Legislative Department, various law firms, or other legitimate-sounding agencies. They claim to be collecting debts for companies such as United Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Advance, U.S. Cash Net, and other Internet check cashing services.
One of the most insidious aspects of this scam is that the callers have accurate information about the victims, including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, addresses, employer information, bank account numbers, and names and telephone numbers of relatives and friends. The method by which the fraudsters obtained the personal information is unclear, but victims often relay that they had completed online applications for other loans or credit cards before the calls began.
The fraudsters relentlessly call the victim’s home, cell phone, and place of employment. They refuse to provide to the victims any details of the alleged payday loans and become abusive when questioned. The callers threaten victims with legal actions, arrests, and in some cases physical violence if they refuse to pay. In many cases, the callers even resort to harassment of the victim’s relatives, friends, and employers.
Some fraudsters instruct victims to fax a statement agreeing to pay a certain dollar amount, on a specific date, via prepaid visa card. The statement further declares that the victim would never dispute the debt.
These telephone calls are an attempt to obtain payment by instilling fear in the victims. Do not follow the instructions of the caller.
If you receive telephone calls such as these, you should:
Contact your banking institutions;
Contact the three major credit bureaus and request an alert be put on your file;
Contact your local law enforcement agencies if you feel you are in immediate danger;
Fraudulent Notification Deceives Consumers Out of Thousands of Dollars
11/29/2010—The IC3 continues to receive reports of letters and e-mails being distributed pursuant to prize sweepstakes or lottery schemes. These schemes use counterfeit checks that bear legitimate-looking logos of various financial institutions to fool victims into sending money to the fraudsters.
Fraudsters tell victims they won a sweepstakes or lottery, but to receive a lump sum payout, they must pay the taxes and processing fees upfront. Fraudsters direct individuals to call a telephone number to initiate a letter of instructions. The letter alleges that the victim may elect to take an advance on the winnings to make the required upfront payment. The letter includes a check in the amount of the alleged taxes and fees, along with processing instructions. Ultimately, victims believe they are using the advance to make the required upfront payment, but in reality they are falling prey to the scheme.
The victim deposits the check into their own bank, which credits the account for the amount of the check before the check clears. The victim immediately withdraws the money and wires it to the fraudsters. Afterwards, the check proves to be counterfeit and the bank pulls the respective funds from the victim’s account, leaving the victim liable for the amount of the counterfeit check plus any additional fees the bank may charge.
Persons may fall victim to this scheme due to the allure of easy money and the apparent legitimacy of the check the fraudsters include in the letter of instruction. The alleged cash prizes and locations of the financial institutions vary.
Tips to avoid being scammed:
A federal statute prohibits mailing lottery tickets, advertisements, or payments to purchase tickets in a foreign lottery.
Be leery if you do not remember entering a lottery or sweepstakes.
Beware of lotteries or sweepstakes that charge a fee prior to delivering your prize.
Be wary of demands to send additional money as a requirement to be eligible for future winnings.
If you have been a victim of this type of scam or any other cyber crime, you can report it to the IC3 at http://www.IC3.gov. The IC3 complaint database links complaints for potential referral to law enforcement for case consideration. Complaint information is also used to identify emerging trends and patterns to alert the public to new criminal schemes.
Imagine getting an e-mail from the FBI. What would you do? Chances are you’d respond to find out what’s up. And bad guys who pretend to be FBI agents are counting on that.
Sierra Smith, who lives in the Seattle area, says it was very scary when she got an e-mail from “Special Agent John Edward.” The message said two trunks containing $4.1 million were confiscated at JFK airport and a document inside had her name it.
Smith replied and asked to see credentials. The follow-up e-mail had an attachment with an FBI badge and a picture ID. In a follow-up e-mail she was asked for $850 to resolve the matter.
Smith didn’t send the money. Instead, she did something very smart. She contacted the FBI office in Seattle and was told about the scam.
This is what’s known as an imposter scam. The Federal Trade Commission says a growing number of scams now involve some sort of impersonation. In fact, imposter scams are now No. 6 on the FTC’s list of Top Ten Complaints for 2010. The commission received more than 60,000 complaints about imposter scams last year.
London: Simply upper-casing your password can minimise a hacker‘s chance of finding out your account.
A six-letter password in lower-case text takes a hacker’s computer just 10 minutes to crack. But make those letters upper-case and it takes 10 hours for it to randomly work out your password.
Add numbers and/or symbols to your password and the hacker’s computer has to work for 18 days.
Despite widespread warning, 50 percent of people choose a common word or simple key combination for their password, the Daily Mail reports.
The most used passwords are 123456, password, 12345678, qwerty and abc123.
However, the security conscious among you may want to try this – choose a nine letter password that includes numbers and/or symbols as this would take a hacker’s computer a staggering 44,530 years to break.
In December, media firm Gawker urged subscribers to change their passwords after its user database was hacked and more than 1.3 million passwords were stolen.
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