It’s no secret that cyber-crimes are all over the news. From Ukrainian hackers stealing millions to Syrian Electronic Army hijacking the AP twitter feed and (falsely) claiming that the president was injured, to teens bullying a young girl over Facebook, digital crimes are all over the news.

So, what can you do about it?

First, don’t panic. This is just another crime wave, and we WILL survive it. Secondly, don’t stick your head in the sand and pretend it won’t impact you. Just like muggings in NYC or car crashes on the highway, you or someone you love will be impacted.

Some common sense tips:

1) Talk to your kids (and grandkids) about social media. We both know that they’re going to drink & party in school at college, and not every freshman is over 21. Some of them will also smoke marijuana, drive too fast, join fraternities/sororities and do all the (stupid) stuff that kids do. Educate them about threats from social media. Remind them that if they’re going to party, the safest course is to turn the cell phones off, and leave them in the bag/pocket/etc. Snapchat, sexting and posting pictures on Facebook will only get them into trouble.

Share this video with them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpOg1Sgmpok (or search YouTube for “raj goel social media”)

2) Protect Your Bank Accounts. See page 3 for excellent tips.

3) Ensure You Have Proper Backups. Whether it’s eFolder at home for your photos, documents and quicken files, or Datto at the office for a complete Backup & Disaster Recovery solution, invest in proper, tested backups. Computers will crash, you will lose your cellphone. Your hard drive will die. Let’s protect your information.

4) Upgrade Your Security At Home And Office. Just as you have deadbolts on your door, and The Club in your car, you have to have proper defense tools. We use and recommend GFI Vipre managed anti-virus and Cyberoam firewalls.

5) Attend one of our FREE seminars, or ask me to schedule one at your office.

We invite leading experts including FBI Special Agent Kirsten Ohlson to discuss

cyber threats facing businesses in the Greater NYC area.

Next one is Nov 7 , 2013 8am-10am. See page 4 for details.

Protect Your Family & Business From Cyber Criminals

“As a business owner, you don’t have time to waste on technical and operational issues. That’s where we shine! Call us and put an end to your IT problems finally and forever!”

Raj Goel, CISSP Brainlink International , Inc.

raj@brainlink.com 917-685-7731

In This Issue…

Protect Your Family And Business From criminals………………...…....P1

Creating Strong Passwords……..P2

The Lighter Side …….…...……..….P3

Protect Your Bank Accounts.….P3

Countdown to XP Shutdown ….P3

FREE Seminar: Cyber criminal are targeting Law Firms……………....P4

Are You Paying Your Staff To Download Movies, Porn ..……….P4

Upcoming Presentations .........P4

O ct o be r 2 01 3, Ne w Y or k, N Y

brainlink BrainSTORM

FREE

Small Business

Advisory Guide:

Are You Paying Your Staff To Download Movies, Porn

We’ve discovered (and stopped) employees from:

Playing games

Downloading movies (which is illegal!)

Surfing “adult escort” sites

Downloading porn

Pirating software

If you’re concerned about what your employees are doing online, or want to make sure they don’t put your business at risk, give me a call.

My team can put together an effective internet security solution that blocks offensive surfing, puts you in the drivers’ seat, and give you daily reports on who went where, and when.

- Raj

Live Seminars at The Friars Club

1) Oct 3 - 8am - 10 am - FOR ARCHITECTS: DECLASSIFIED DEBRIEFING From

The FBI - Cyber Criminals Are Targeting Architectural Firms. Learn How

To Protect Your Business. www.Brainlink.com/architectseminar/

2) Oct 25 - 8am - noon - CSSWorks, Chicago - Protect Your Family &

Business From Cyber Criminals Raj is the guest speaker at CSS’s annual

Technology Day. He will discuss security and cybercrime challenges

facing companies in America’s heartland.

3) Nov 7 - 8am - 10am - FOR LAW FIRMS: DECLASSIFIED DEBRIEFING From

The FBI - Cyber Criminals Are Targeting Law Firms. Learn How To Protect

Your Practice. Register at www.Brainlink.com/lawfirmseminar/

4) Jan 23 - 8am - noon - CONSTRUCTION COMPANY TECHNOLOGY DAY.

Declassified Debriefing From The FBI on threats specific to Construction

Firms Register at www.Brainlink.com/constructionseminar/

“We make all of your computer problems go away without the cost of a full-time I.T. staff!”

Ask about our fixed price service agreements. — Computer support at a flat monthly fee you can budget for, just like rent!

Upcoming Presentations

Brainlink International, Inc. | 917-685-7731 | www.Brainlink.com

What Business Owners

MUST Know About

Protecting Data……….P2

Brainlink International, Inc. | 917-685-7731 | www.Brainlink.com

Author, Speaker and TV Guru

Raj Goel, CISSP

Presents:

Cyber Criminals Are

Targeting Law Firms.

Learn How To Protect Your Practice! Register at: www.brainlink.com/lawfirmseminar/

Thursday, Nov 7, 2013 8am - 10 am

The Friars Club

57 East 55th Street, New York, New York 10022

(55th Street between Madison & Park Ave)

Page 2 Page 3

FREE BUSINESS ADVISORY

GUIDE: “What Business Owners

Must Know About Protecting Data”

If you are relying on tape drives, external hard drives or USB devices to back up your data, then it’s critical for you to get and read this informative eBook. You will learn what most IT consultants don’t know or won’t tell you about making sure your company’s critical data is safe from loss, corruption, cyber criminals, natural disasters and employee sabotage, in addition to: 1) The only way to know for SURE your data can be recovered if lost, corrupted or deleted—yet fewer than 10% of businesses have this in place. 2) 7 critical characteristics you should absolutely demand from any offsite backup service. 3) Where tape backups fail and give you a false sense of security. 4) The number one cause of data loss that businesses don’t even think about until their data is erased.

Claim Your FREE Copy Today: Call 917-685-7731 or click

www.brainlink.com/protecting-your-data/

Happy Cookie Month!

The most popular type of

home-baked cookie is the

Chocolate Chip cookie.

Over-mixing the dough or

adding too much flour can

result in hard, tough cookies.

The first animal crackers were

produced in the United States

by Stauffer’s Biscuit Company

in 1871. Nabisco’s Barnum’s

circus version hit the market in

1902.

The modern version of the Fig

Newton was created in 1891

and is named for the city of

Newton, Massachusetts.

The Oreo cookie was invented

in 1912.

Ladyfingers are used in

tiramisu because the cookies

so readily absorb the sweet

syrup and liqueur used to

make the traditional Italian

dessert.

While Italians use the word

“biscotti” to refer to all types

of cookies, Americans think of

“biscotti” as the long, dry

cookies that are served with

hot drinks for dunking. The

name is derived from “bis,”

meaning twice, and “cotto,”

meaning cooked. Baking the

cookies twice results in their

hard, crumbly texture.

Over a billion dollars are lost each year in the United States through “ATM Skimming” – far more than any losses from bank robberies – and it’s growing at a rate of more than 10% every year.

ATM Skimming is a cybercrime where the criminals steal (or “skim”) your ATM/debit card data when you’re using a typical ATM machine. They do this by fitting a small card reader over the typical ATM card slot, thus capturing your information. Additionally, the criminals install mini cameras above or near the ATM to capture your PIN number. The data is then transmitted via Bluetooth to the cybercriminals somewhere nearby. The average skimming attack usually lasts only an hour or two during peak ATM usage times (i.e. lunch hour or after work). Meanwhile, you have no idea that you’ve just been had and are at risk. These cyber-criminals will then sell the data on the cards to others so that they can either clone your debit card or wipe out your bank account.

6 Tips To Protect Credit/Savings Accounts

1) Cover your hand as you type. Obstructing the view of your pin from any cameras will render your data useless.

2) Pay attention to the area around the ATM card slot. If anything looks loose or out of place, pull to see if you can remove it.

3) Be aware of surroundings. Be extra careful of ATMs in dark or isolated places.

4) Does the machine look different? If anything looks out of place (extra signage, mirrors, etc.) then avoid the machine.

5) Put a Transaction Alert & Daily Balance Alert on your account. Our bank texts us when any transaction exceeds $400 and they send daily balance alerts via email. (yes, this means I can’t surprise my wife with big gifts, but it sure beats getting cleaned out by crooks!)

6) Review your transactions & balances daily. Notify your bank of any suspicious transactions immediately.

Protect Your Checking/Savings Accounts

Countdown to Windows XP Shutdown Support is ending April 2014 (6 Months Away!)

No more band-aids, patches, updates or support from Microsoft.

Using Windows XP after April 2014 could be a HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GLBA, etc. violation.

Malware Everywhere - XP is by far the most vulnerable platform to con-nect to the internet.

Windows XP is a relic from a different world. Use at your own risk.

The Lighter Side: Creating Strong Passwords

Brainlink International, Inc. | 917-685-7731 | www.Brainlink.com Brainlink International, Inc. | 917-685-7731 | www.Brainlink.com

It should not surprise you that a LOT of online sites are tied together.

Gawker.com, LinkedIn.com, Yahoo.com, Facebook, iCloud , World Of Warcraft,

Farmville- they’ve all been attacked and criminals have stolen millions of user

accounts. And research shows that many, many people use the same password

across multiple sites. This turns a small problem (lost Facebook account, com-

promised LinkedIN account) into a massive problem...for YOU!

Don’t make the same mistake!

A few lessons learned/taught:

1) The attackers were after a CEO — his password is 24862486

2) The hackers also determined that he used it on twitter, and other sites

3) They changed his DNS, hijacked his sites and caused the company deep em-

barrassment and millions in cleanup costs.

We know from experience that people tend to use the SAME PASSWORDS every-

where. I STRONGLY urge you to maintain separate passwords, and to change

them regularly. Otherwise, a break in one location, can compromise your identi-

ty everywhere else.-

Here’s a trick/technique I use to train executives in picking great passwords:

1) Pick a line from a song or a book, e.g. Somewhere Over The Rainbow Bridge

2) Pick the 2nd (or 3rd or 4th) letter from each word, e.g. 2nd letter: ovhar

3rd letter: meeni

3) Pick a BASE password – e.g. OVHAR. Add numbers and special characters (!,

@, #, $, %, ^, &, *, (,), 1-0), between the letters: o$v$h$a$r, o$v#h@a$r,

o@v#h$a#r

4) For dealing with websites, use a different base, and incorporate the website

name in your password: e.g. BASE: MEENI; websites: EXPEDIA.com, EBAY.com,

PAYPAL.com.

Sample passwords:

m!e@e#n^iEXPEDIA – with site name at the end

m!e@EBAYe#n^i – with sitename in the middle

m!e@PaYpAle#n^i – with sitename in the middle, mixed case

Any of these passwords are extremely difficult to crack, easy to remember.

TIP: Use DIFFERENT bases for different areas of life: e.g. BASE1 – work creden-

tials (office desktop, office email, etc); BASE2 – home credentials; BASE3 – web-

sites; BASE4 – Online banking

Or, at minimum: BASE1 – home, work, web; BASE2 – online banking

Change your password every 6 months. A weak password changed frequently

is better than a strong password that’s rarely changed.