Key Secured Message

Below is an example of a message that some users have received containing a compressed attachment and a 'decryption key'.

While there are situations where a message like this could be legitimate, if you receive one from an unknown sender and addressed to an email address other than your own, you can be pretty certain that it is not something you would want to deal with.

In the message below the compressed message contained an executable file -- something you should always be wary of opening.

The best action to take with these messages is to immediately delete them.

Webmail Phishing Messages

Below are examples of two phishing messages that some users have seen recently.

Adams will NEVER ask you to reply to an email request to provide us your account and password, either by email or by a link to website.  Always be suspicious of any unsolicited request to provide your email address and password.

If you ever have any questions about your email account call our Help Desk at 1-877-502-3267.

If you receive an email like the ones shown here, delete it without taking action.



From: Adams NetWorks <xxxxx@xxxxx.edu>
Date: March 3, 2013, 10:14:07 AM CST
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Subject: Emergency Verification!!

Dear Adams.Net Webmail subscriber,

We hereby announce to you that your email account has exceeded its storage limit. You will not be able to send and receive mails and your email account will be deleted from our server. To avoid this problem, you are advised to verify your email account by clicking on the linkbelow.

http://shgg448.php5.xx/

Thank you.

The Adams.Net Webmail Management Team.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "System Administrator®" <iinfo@spam.com>

Sent: Sunday, March 3, 2013 5:03 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: UPGRADE FROM ADMIN.

  

Attention:

An Attempt has been made to login from a new computer. For the

security of your account, we are poised to open a query. Kindly verify your login details by responding to this email and providing your Username/ID {_______} Password {_______} Alternate Password {_______}

in the spaces.

Do not ignore this message to avoid termination of your webmail account.

Webmaster Customer Care.

Sun Outages - First 2013 Eevent

Twice per year many satellite-based services are affected by interference from the sun.

Sun outages affect all satellite-based communications and occur when the sun is located directly behind the satellite and in-line with the antenna on the ground. At that point, the noise energy from the sun is often greater than the communication signal level and may result in loss of signal.

Sun outages will affect our cable television service (as we receive our cable television programming from satellites), along with satellite-based services such as WildBlue.

Additional details on the specific product impacts are:

Adams Cable Television

Beginning on Friday, March 1, and running through Thursday, March 7 we will experience cable television interruptions due to the sun being directly in line with the satellite and our dishes.

As we have satellites pointing 7 different directions, the interruptions will begin around noon and end around 3:40 p.m. in the afternoon.

DISH Network

Sun outage interference with DISH will start Friday, February 22, and will run through Wednesday, March 13, with outages occurring from 2:49 p.m. to 4:15 p.m.

Excede

Sun outage interference with Exede will start Friday, February 22, and will run through Wednesday, March 13, with outages occurring from 1:58 p.m. to 3:06 p.m.

WildBlue

Sun outage interference with WildBlue started on Friday, March 2 and will run through Thursday, March 8, with outages occurring from 1:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Citi Card Phishing

Here's an example of a phony Citibank credit card notification.

Note that the dollar amounts are rather extreme and don't necessarily make sense (i.e. payment due on a credit balance).

In this example every one of the links on the message went to a different compromised server, at least one of which tried to install malware on the computer accessing it.

It's always best to delete messages that are suspicious and not try to reply or click on the links contained.  In the event that you do have an account with the merchant it's best to call the phone number listed on their card or website than to trust an unsolicited email.

Adams.Net E-mail Notification Phishing

Although this message has been stopped by the Postini system for a majority of users, a few users have received this message or have had it delivered from the quarantine.

Adams will NEVER ask you to reply to an email with your login and password to verify your email account.  If you ever receive such a request do not reply but simply delete the message.

For any questions about your email account please call us at 1-877-502-3267.

From: ADAMS.NET WEBMAIL SUPPORT TERM [mailto:info@adams.net]
Sent: Friday, December 07, 2012 2:02 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: Adams.Net E-mail Notification

Adams.Net E-mail Notification

This message is from adams.net messaging center to all adams.net email account owners. We are removing access to all our mail clients. Your email account will be upgraded to a new enhanced web mail user interface provided by adams.net.

Effective from the moment this email has been received and Response received from you. Adams.net will discontinue the use of our adams.net mail and our adams.net mail Lite interfaces. To ensure your e-mail address book is saved in our database. Please click the reply button and enter your adams.net

Username here: (  )
Password here: ( )
Zip code: ( )

And send it back to us, which will enable us to transfer your contacts to our new Web mail client database. All e-mails will be safe in this transition! All your old email will still be there and you will have new unread messages waiting for you. We are confident that you will like the new and improved web mail interface. Failure to comply with this notice immediately will remove your access from our adams.net database.

Thank you for using adams.net.

Yours Sincerely,
Adams.net Web-mail Services

Amazon and PayPal Phishing

For the bad guys looking to compromise your personal information, it's Cyber Everyday.

Here are two recent phishing messages that no one should take seriously.  But it is apparent that Sao Paolo was on their mind when they composed these phony messages.

Note the obvious mistakes.

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Emergency Verification Phishing

Below is an example of an attempt to gather user email credentials.  The message shown below linked to a Google Docs form to collect this data.

Adams will NEVER ask you to complete such a form to verify your mail account.

This misuse of Google Docs has been reported.

If you ever have a question about an email concerning your Adams email account please forward the email to 'tech@adams.net' or call tech support at 1-877-502-3267.

This is the web page referred by the link.