Your email is a nexus point for user interaction and for potential vulnerability from scammers. It is the door to your data home and the place where many users are most likely to compromise their information.

As you know the internet is rife with scammers who are always looking for the next way to take advantage of the public. They use ever improving techniques and changing tool-sets to come up with the next way to get your information and create vulnerabilities in your network.

In most cases this is as easy as convince users to click on links and attachments that they should not.

Recently we have seen a growing malware/phishing/virus threat being spread through legitimate looking voicemail attachments in user emails.

In almost all cases email scammers convince users to click on or open attachments by including just enough information that could be perceived as correct and accurate that it may be appropriate to be receiving the attached information. In the case of the Voicemail attachment – Users may see an “Email ID” that appears to be coming from an internal email address at the recipient’s organization, as well as a “Download Message” link that appears to host the fake audio file on the recipient’s organization’s domain. All these work together to throw off recipients better judgment and convince them to trust the email enough to click on the download link.

This phishing attempt fools users by appearing to be a legitimate, automated email from Outlook. The scam targets Outlook users, who are sent official looking emails with the subject line “You have received a voice mail.” The body of the email contains the Microsoft Office Outlook logo, fake data about the voicemail and caller, and a link to download the voice message. Although the download link appears to be a .wav audio file, it’s actually an HTML link to a website that tries to install a Trojan virus. If you are current with your Antivirus Protection and Ant-malware Protection the software should stop the Trojan from installing, however we have had users who have manually overridden these protections and allowed the blocked content to install.

Another version users are seeing with more frequency is the appearance of a “voice message” which appears to come from the “admin” of your organization. This email includes a zipped attachment which when downloaded will install malware on your computer.

Deleting the email should be enough to avoid downloading any malware. but accessing, or downloading, or even opening and allowing the email to load any embedded images may be enough to confirm the validity of your email address and open your system up to potential vulnerability.

If you do click on the download link or believe that your system has been compromised as a result, You should take steps to quickly mitigate the damage.

The best strategy is to exercise additional diligence when opening email. If you cannot confirm the authenticity of an email or sender, it is always best to avoid opening it.

Many smaller businesses may mistakenly think they cannot afford a digital data storage and recovery options. However, data recovery does not get any cheaper when Raid data recovery or laptop hard drive recovery must be done by a professional. Why switch from tape to phones, iPods, images, stills and other devices? One advantage of removable data storage is that it can be easily transported almost anywhere. Multimedia cards, flash drives, and memory cards are easy options for smaller businesses that need cheap data storage.

These removable digital media storage options are easy options and cheaper than some Raid systems, they also may be easier to recover data than hiring a professional to perform hard disk data recovery or Raid data recovery. The dangers with removable digital options are that they also may be harder to secure and protect sensitive data.

Protecting removable external devices from Hackers

Smaller businesses may not be able to afford a Raid system and may not need Raid data recovery from a trained professional. A businessman may opt for less costly measures of data storage and backup, such as using a USB flash drive. What is the best way to protect removable digital storage devices, if they are lost or stolen? One way small business owners can ensure their employees are not allowing sensitive data into the hands of hackers is to have flash drives that are password protected.

Flash drives are solid state storage devices that will not last forever. A USB flash drive will fail after so many times of adding or deleting data. However, employees should not give up on their flash drive if it does fail and they cannot retrieve sensitive, company data. A trained professional may be able to gain access data off a memory stick, but also access data from a failing laptop that needs laptop data recovery.

Automated backup may be a good solution for some small business Owners

For some small business owners, an automatic backup of necessary data may be a good way to protect sensitive data and ensure that backups are up-to-date. Did you know 60 percent of businesses admitted in 2013 that they did not regularly backup their data? Why is it important for small business owners to back-up data regularly? Small business owners do not have to worry about forgetting to back up data.

Depending on the type of backup, small business owners may be able to choose between an incremental or differential backup.It also may save Businessman from needing Raid data recovery in the area.

Have you ever considered using a portable data storage device to keep data safe? Some experts suggest that other methods of data storage should be used as well because USB flash drives and laptop hard drives can be easily hacked. It may cause small owners to need laptop hard drive recovery options. It may be best to consult an expert in hard disk data recovery if small owners do find evidence of hacking or a virus on their machines.