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On Aug. 30, the news broke that a hacker calling himself “Comodohacker” made off with a Google authentication certificate on July 19, which allowed him to set up fraudulent Web pages under a legitimate Google domain name and harvest the personal information of anyone who visited his spoofed sites.

Read the rest of the article here from MSNBC – “Cracked Digital Certificates Endanger ‘Web of Trust’”

Scary! So the 3 things that lead to this cyber-disaster were:

(1) easy to guess passwords,

(2) lack of antivirus software and

(3) not being patched to the latest security update.

Who’s been talking about that again? That’s right, Now IT Works.  Talk to your account manager about signing up for a Blue Steel Support Program today!

Did you know that nearly four out of five technology professionals believe employees are putting their companies at risk by failing to act safely online, according to new research. In a study by anti-virus firm Sophos, 79% of the IT workers polled said that in spite of their group’s instructions, many employees continue to open unsolicited e-mail messages and attachments, and to inadvertently download spyware from Web sites.

Be prepared – don’t let disaster strike your business computer network! Contact Now IT Works to learn how to protect your business from employees downloading games or illegal software that could open your network to evil forces from the internet such as viruses or spam.

Ask about PC Crash Protection today!

• A month after launch, Google + has some believing that it has real staying power (Wired)

• New technology that can’t end well – a CarZor Razor that fits in your wallet (Geekologie)

• As the beginning of the school year rapidly approaches, here is a great video to help you save money on back to school computing (CNN Tech)

• For the geeks out there – here are the Top 10 Favorite Geek Movie Quotes – enjoy! (Huffington Post)

Facebook recently announced that they will offer an option in the “Friends and Family” section (under Edit Profile) that allows users to choose “Expected: Child”, along with listing a due date and name, if already decided.

It’s been speculated that the option was introduced to cut back on the amount of parents-to-be who create separate pages for their impending bundles of joy. It is technically against Facebook rules and regulations to have a page if you are under the age of 13.

Be careful not to change your status to “Expected: Child” if you have friends who will be offended to find out this way or if you are friends with your co-workers and haven’t let your boss know your maternity plans yet.

If you answer yes to the question above, you’re not alone, according to a study in the journal of Personal and Ubiquitous Computing. These checking habits consist of repetitive checking of email and other social networking applications, “lasting less than 30 seconds and occurring within 10 minutes of each other.”

On average, people check their phones 34 times a day, not because they need to but because it has simply become a habit.

Here’s a few questions you can ask yourself to find out if you are a habitual checker:

1. Do you check your email even when there is no notification of a new email being received?
2. Are you starting to annoy the people around you?
3. Does not checking your email or having your phone around makes you start to shake and sweat?

If you’d like to break the habit, schedule times when you will be without your phone – perhaps when you have plans with friends or during family events. As with anything else, the first step in acknowledging you have a problem is admitting it…

• Google displaying warnings for users with Malware infections (CNN Money)

• You may not need any of these tech tools but isn’t it good to know they exist? (CNN Tech)

• Fake Apple store pops up in China (Geeks are Sexy)

• Here is a list that may come in handy for me in particular! A tech checklist for new baby (Today – Digital Life)

There is a new scam making its way around Twitter lately, which promises to increase a user’s followers. However, all this scam really does is give control of the account to a third party.

The tweet simply says “I will follow back if you follow me” and includes a shortened link that would typically be seen on Twitter. When that link is clicked on, the user is redirected to a site that offers either a pay-plan or a free trial. The user must then re-enter their Twitter log-in information, which is how the third-party is then able to access the account.

According to PC World:

“While the scam is making the rounds again, it is not a new one. Researchers at Zscaler explained the details of the ploy several months ago, noting some services ask for credit card numbers in exchange for VIP status, which promises 400-1,000 new followers a day. In reality, the compromised Twitter account is then used to send out Twitter spam to promote the service and follow hundreds of other accounts but result in no meaningful additional followers, according to Zscaler.

Cluley advised anyone who had fallen into the trap to revoke the application’s rights immediately in the Settings/Applications section of a Twitter account. Changing one’s password is also recommended, he said.”

It is best to follow the same rules as with email – if you don’t know who sent you the link or if it is not from a trusted source, don’t click on it.

We’ve all gotten those emails where the content is about business but the delivery is lacking some professionalism. Maybe it’s the email that is written in all caps, seeming like the writer is yelling at you for no apparent reason. Or perhaps you get annoyed when someone spells your name wrong, despite the fact that the correct spelling is merely 2-3 inches above, in the address line.

Whatever your own personal email pet peeve is, be sure to read this article from CNN “Top 10 Business Emails You Shouldn’t Send” to make sure you aren’t guilty of these silly mistakes.