I used to have my digital photos printed out at Costco, however gradually over time I stopped printing them all-together and instead mostly share my digital photos directly on Facebook to friends and family. Costco is a large retail provider that continues to offer printing of digital photos and they have a fine online system for uploading and ordering. One small detail is that Costco actually contracted out this online service to another company, and then that company got hacked, so I received the following ominous email about the security breach by email last week:
Wow, the Costco photo system was hacked for some 13 months until it was recently found. Now that doesn’t install much confidence in me about the security. Coincidentally in the past 12 months my Visa card company has issued me 2 new cards as part of their on-going security efforts.
So Costco photos online was the big security issue, and now for the small security issue – an email warning about my email account being over quota:
It’s important to note that my Internet Service Provider is 1and1.com and they have a totally different look to their emails than this fake email. Notice how this email has no company name listed, no toll-free phone number, no logo and no address. Furthermore, when I click on the email sender it shows some bogus address of admin@b.boyuan.net, certainly not a real company that I do any business with.
Hovering over the link reveals another fake address that is not any company I know of:
So, to stay safe by identifying bogus emails like this, just double check a few facts before clicking any links:
- Email sending address is one that you recognize (i.e. support@1and1.com)
- Company logo is legitimate
- All links actually point to the company you know about (i.e. support.1and1.com)
Hopefully you will stay safe and secure in running your business and personal life online by not falling for security scams, or taking immediate action if a scam has stolen any of your vital information.
