Since last December, more than a dozen separate email phishing attacks have been spotted, targeting or referring to the Beijing Olympic games. The subject lines mention the torch relay, tickets, the IOC, etc. Do not open such emails, and above all, do not click on any links within.

The latest flood of Olympic emails installs a Trojan EXE file on your computer through a Microsoft Office flaw. At the moment, the attack is aimed at government agencies and businesses. Once installed, it allows remote code execution, meaning a hacker could seize control of your computer.

Security company RSA is warning about a group of criminals who specialize in sophisticated attacks. They are known as the Rock Phish Gang. They have built malicious Web sites that rummage around in a visitor’s computer, taking screenshots, logging passwords and collecting other data.

They can also grab control of your computer. As always, the best way to protect yourself is to keep all your security programs up to date, including Windows.

I have mentioned before that it is important, even vital, to update your programs regularly and promptly. Why? The hackers jump on patches and fixes to reverse engineer them and find the flaw that was fixed. Then they create attack code to launch against unpatched computers.

Tools are available to accomplish all this in as little as 30 seconds. Microsoft releases patches for Windows and other software on the second Tuesday of the month. Exploit code based on these patches often appears the very next day. So please keep all your stuff up to date!

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here:
= > http://MyPCSecuritySite.com

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