American Computer Concepts LLC

If you own a gigabyte motherboard, you have a BIG problem...
https://www.wired.com/story/gigabyte-motherboard-firmware-backdoor/

If you own one of the 10's of millions of routers that use the Realtek RTL819X SOC chipset (and I have not found a list of all of them, but they include virtually ALL of the major manufacturers), then your router has a CRITICAL flaw. On a scale of 1 to 10, it rates a 9.8. There is a Stack buffer overflow vulnerability on the internet facing side of the router in which a single malicious UDP SIP packet addressing any arbitrary port, will allow the attacker to take complete control of your router. Realtek released a fix to manufacturers in March 2022, but a great many of these routers are out of warranty and are no longer being updated with new operating software. And hardly anybody updates their routers anyway. So there is an extremely high likelihood that your router is vulnerable, and may already have been attacked. At the Defcon conference last week, this vulnerability was discussed, almost immediately here were malicious scanners looking for vulnerable routers. If you can update your router's firmware, you need to do so NOW. If you can't, you need to get a new router.

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/exploit-out-for-critical-realtek-flaw-affecting-many-networking-devices/

Exploit out for critical Realtek flaw affecting many networking devices Exploit code has been released for a critical vulnerability affecting networking devices with Realtek's RTL819x system on a chip (SoC), which are estimated to be in the millions.

Clearly, adequate vibration testing was not done.

While I'm sure the HD and Laptop manufacturers learned a hard lesson here, there is still an important lesson that we all need to remember. Hd's are found in a LOT of things, car entertainment systems, cable boxes, surveillence/security systems. Vibration damping is critical for all of these systems. I spent 8 years designing and building shock and vibration resistant systems worth hundreds of thousands of dollars each. It isn't as easy as mounting stuff of rubber grommets.

Bitlocker is the Debbil!

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/microsoft/windows-kb5012170-update-causing-bitlocker-recovery-screens-boot-issues/

Windows KB5012170 update causing BitLocker recovery screens, boot issues Windows users who have installed a new KB5012170 security update for Secure Boot have encountered various issues, ranging from boots failing with BitLocker Recovery prompts to performance issues.

Do you use Microsoft Teams? Spotify? Discord? Or probably a million other apps that are based on Electron? If so, Houston, we have a problem....

https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2022/08/researchers-found-one-click-exploits-in-discord-and-teams?utm_campaign=RT&utm_medium=social

A vulnerability was found in Electron which is what drives Discord, Spotify, and Microsoft Teams We use cookies to help us enhance your online experience. If that sounds good, click “Accept All Cookies” or to review our Privacy and Cookie Policy click here.

Microsoft was warned two years ago about a zero day vulnerability called "Dog Walk" that allows a bad actor to trick users into allowing a program to drop malware into the "Startup" folder. They however declared at the time that since it didn't elevate privileges it was working as designed. Now, this patch Tuesday they declared it a critical zero day vulnerability.

https://youtu.be/2jCmYph3vfQ

If you like to travel by air, you can improve your network security and save money on travel at the same time. If you use a VPN that allows you to make it appear you are logging in from say Mexico, or Germany, or Saudi Arabia or something like that you will find that airlines will change the price of a flight depending on which country you appear to be logging in from. So get yourself a VPN and swap around your origin point and go shopping. I can't say which country is best, I suspect that changes from one airline to another. But good luck!

New customers to MicroCenter can receive a new 250gb SSD, NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Then come see me and I will install it for you.

https://youtu.be/WMG2b077w1A

SSD Coupon 16 9 4

I have been warning users to avoid Windows 11 ever since it came out. I have been vindicated yet again. Microsoft has recently announced that they have found a pattern of corrupted encrypted hard drives caused by a bad interaction between windows and the cryptographic engine built into the supported CPU's. They have devised a fix, however it causes a significant loss in performance.

I will say again, unless you have a strong reason why you MUST use Windows 11, don't.

SOME KEY INFO FOR THE GULLIBLE:
1. The government will not robo-call you with an automated system giving you an option to speak with a representative.

2. If the government thinks that you owe them money, and they call you rather than using the US Mail, they will call you with a live human and they will address you by your name.

3. If the government thinks you have been a victim of identity theft or fraud, and is seeking to contact you to inform you and ask you some necessary questions, they will in fact call you... with a live agent (Typically the Secret Service is tasked with credit card fraud) and by your name.

4. If the government actually thinks they have hard evidence that you have committed a criminal activity, they will not call you on the phone, they will visit you in person, with an arrest warrant in hand.

5. Amazon/ebay/etc is not going to call you to warn you of a large impending purchase. They are happy as a clam for you to spend that much money. They are NOT going to call you to confirm. And they will NEVER ask to take over your computer.

6. McAfee/Norton/Microsoft is not going to generate a pop-up ad or send you an email from a Gmail address warning you of an infection and tell you to click on the link or call a phone number. That is called a phasing scam.

Please don't be a trusting fool, the world is a dark and scary place, view everything you see as a probable scam. Only after doing your research should you click on ANYTHING you see online, and even then, be wary. Many of us grew up trusting our fellow man. That is not the world we live in now.

Microsoft has quietly released an undelete utility for Windows 10...

https://www.pcgamer.com/au/microsoft-quietly-released-its-own-undelete-utility-for-windows-10/

Microsoft quietly released its own undelete utility for Windows 10 Recover deleted files without turning to a third-party program.

If you have 7-Zip installed in your machine, a vulnerability that has been seen used in "the wild" uses the help file included in the program to give other files administrator privileges. The solution is to go to the installation folder of the program and delete the 7-Zip.chm file (the help file). It will not affect how the program works, it just disables the help function.

Intel and AMD don’t want you to know this… (but your old computer is still fine) Just how much is your old computer holding you back? Do you really need a CPU upgrade? Or can you get away with spending less?Buy a GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER:On...

If you ask a support person at Dell, or HP, or even God forbid Apple, how long your computer will last, you'll get numbers ranging from 3-5 years. If you take a machine more than 3 years old to Apple, they will refuse to fix it, claiming "parts are no longer available". But is that really true? OF COURSE NOT! THEY ARE LYING TO YOU! In the case of Apple, yes, NEW OEM parts might no longer be available, but that is because they control the availability of OEM parts and refuse to sell them to anyone. USED parts, or aftermarket parts however are still available. (Of course newer machines have been intentionally crippled to prevent third party repair, so, there is that to consider too.)

But in the case of other manufacturers, there is a mix of NEW OEM, NEW aftermarket, as well as USED parts readily available for repairs.

But what if your machine is just really slow? Is it time to retire it? Many times the answer is a resounding NO! Often replacing a slow mechanical HD with a speedier SSD, or replacing a slow I3 processor with a speedier I5 or I7 (for desktop machines where that is possible) , or putting more memory in, or a faster graphics card (desktops again) will turn an old dog of a computer into a racing greyhound, and for far less money than a whole new computer.

Come see us at American Computer Concepts and we can discuss your options. You might just be pleasantly surprised!

This is why we recommend Malwarebytes to all our customers.
https://youtu.be/lEiQVIP9gmg

Malwarebytes 2022: Test vs Malware Malwarebytes Premium 4.5 Review: Test vs Malware and off-sec MITRE techniques. Is this one of the best antivirus programs in 2022?--Contact us for an cyberse...

Ladies and gentlemen, those online quizzes are not for fun, there is a very real and sinister reason why they exist. STOP RESPONDING/REPOSTING THEM!

In these days of high inflation combined with chip shortages making computers even more expensive, we at American Computer Concepts would like to remind you that we can fix your broken computers, and in many cases upgrade them if they are running slow.

In times like these, it makes sense to wring the most out of our machines. Not only is it good for your budget, it is good for the environment as well.

The dumpster fire that is Windows 11 has hit three alarms...
https://www.techspot.com/news/91769-windows-11-now-causing-problems-printers-microsoft-details.html

Windows 11 now causing problems with printers, Microsoft details how it reduced update sizes by 40% Brother, a Japanese firm that sells computer-related electronics, says that a substantial amount of its printers may not function correctly when used via a USB connection in...

CALLER: Is this Pizza Hut?
GOOGLE: No mam, it's Google Pizza.
CALLER: I must have dialed a wrong number, sorry.
GOOGLE: No mam, Google bought Pizza Hut last month.
CALLER: OK. I would like to order a pizza.
GOOGLE: Do you want your usual,mam?
CALLER: My usual? You know me?
GOOGLE: According to our caller ID data sheet, the last 12 times you called you ordered an extra-large pizza with three cheeses, sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms and meatballs on a thick crust.
CALLER: Super! That’s what I’ll have.
GOOGLE: May I suggest that this time you order a pizza with ricotta, arugula, sun-dried tomatoes and olives on a whole wheat gluten-free thin crust?
CALLER: What? I don’t want a vegetarian pizza!
GOOGLE: Your cholesterol is not good, mam.
CALLER: How the hell do you know that?
GOOGLE: Well, we cross-referenced your home phone number with your medical records. We have the result of your blood tests for the last 7 years.
CALLER: Okay, but I do not want your rotten vegetarian pizza! I already take medication for my cholesterol.
GOOGLE: Excuse me mam, but you have not taken your medication regularly. According to our database, you purchased only a box of 30 cholesterol tablets once at CVS Pharmacy, 4 months ago.
CALLER: I bought more from another Pharmacy.
GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your credit card statement.
CALLER: I paid in cash.
GOOGLE: But you did not withdraw enough cash according to your bank statement.
CALLER: I have other sources of cash.
GOOGLE: That doesn’t show on your latest tax returns, unless you bought them using an undeclared income source, which is against the law!
CALLER: WHAT THE HELL!
GOOGLE: I'm sorry mam, we use such information only with the sole intention of helping you.
CALLER: Enough already! I'm sick to death of Google, Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and all the others. I'm going to an island without the internet, TV, where there is no phone service and no one to watch me or spy on me.
GOOGLE: I understand mam, but you need to renew your passport first. It expired 6 weeks ago...

Windows 11 is really starting to look like a complete and total steaming pile of political promises. AMD processors are slowed by as much as 15%, or possibly more. A memory leak that brings a machine to its knees by locking up more and more memory, and now a bug that affects registry keys that use non-ASCII characters. If a machine using such a character were upgraded to windows 11, the machine may be unable to boot, and because of its TPM 2.0 requirements, the machine may be unable to be repaired without a complete wipe and recovery from backups.

https://www.techspot.com/news/91701-windows-11-cannot-open-apps-non-ascii-registry.html

Windows 11 cannot open apps with non-ASCII registry keys, Microsoft video shows why OS requires TPM 2.0 Microsoft revealed that certain apps could fail to open as a result, as well as cause other issues or errors in the operating system. Due to detecting...

Now malware can survive an OS wipe and reinstall.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/suspected-chinese-hackers-unleash-malware-that-can-survive-os-reinstalls?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook

Suspected Chinese Hackers Unleash Malware That Can Survive OS Reinstalls It works to create a Trojan file called 'IntelUpdate.exe' in the Startup Folder, which will reinstall itself even if the user finds it and deletes it, according to Kaspersky Lab.

A while back I posted about the Framework laptop that was built from the ground up to help eliminate e-waste by being designed from the beginning to be upgraded and repaired. Now I've found a cell phone that was designed in the same manner. The Fairphone.

https://youtu.be/L1v3ZmfV_hw

The Anti-iPhone Check out Storyblocks at https://www.storyblocks.com/linustechtipsCheck out Storyblocks at https://www.videoblocks.com/LinusTechTipsSmartphones are notorious...

Jeff Bezos just cant win...he paid $970M for Twitch. They got hacked and their ENTIRE CODEBASE as well as a payout database showing who has earned how much has been posted on 4chan (it has since been taken down, but it has since been duplicated elsewhere). And the hackers claim this is just part one. More is supposed to be posted Monday. Again, this was due to a server configuration error that inadvertently exposed what was supposed to be an internally facing server to the internet. Another summer intern? Who knows....

Those Damned Summer Interns!

We all know Facebook fell on it's face... for hours. I'm not going to get into the weeds because frankly, it involves technology that I am only vaguely aware of anyway, but I'm going to try to explain in plain english what happened, based on more technical explanations I've read.

The routing tables that it's internet backbone facing routers use to direct traffic to it's four major DNS server farms. Those tables are propagated throughout the internet. That table was bad. Very bad. It took the entire Facebook system functionally offline. it was there, it was running, but it is as if a traffic cop put a barricade across the 48 lane freeway leading to the servers. Not even Facebook's network engineers could get into the system, and because Facebook used those same servers for it's own badge readers and access controls, they couldn't even get into the building where the routers were in order to access them directly with a console terminal! Finally they were able to fly someone with physical keys out to the server farm to get physical access to the building.

If you do want to get into the weeds, you can learn more here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm1plOgxSE4

“Something Went Wrong” - Windows 11 Released, New Android Trojan, Windows Explorer Memory Leak • Picture of the Week.• Another two, in-the-wild, true 0-days found and fixed in Chrome.• Windows 11 arrives.• A known memory leak in Windows Explorer.• Rans...

Apple pay and visa have a vulnerability flaw that has been known for months that neither company has any interest in fixing. The finger pointing is rampant.

https://www.bankinfosecurity.com/apple-pay-visa-vulnerability-may-enable-payment-fraud-a-17648

Apple Pay-Visa Vulnerability May Enable Payment Fraud Researchers at the University of Birmingham and University of Surrey say they have uncovered a vulnerability in the Apple Pay-Visa setup that could allow hackers to

Beware of Grifthorse! A very skillful Android Trojan horse attack has been underway since November 2020. The trojan was embedded in a commonly used function library used by android programmers. It has been used in hundreds of apps, many unwittingly. It will bombard you with popups offering you a prize. If you ever accept it, you are sent to a page where you are asked for your information. Instead of a prize, you are signed up for a premium SMS service that sends you sms messages over a paid service.

https://blog.malwarebytes.com/android/2021/09/android-trojan-grifthorse-the-gift-horse-you-definitely-should-look-in-the-mouth/

Android Trojan GriftHorse, the gift horse you definitely should look in the mouth - Malwarebytes Labs The GriftHorse Android Trojan is a widespread campaign with millions of victims in over 70 countries.

Windows 11 and you.

Next week Microsoft will be releasing the first version of Windows 11. It is NEVER a good idea to be an "Early Adopter" of new operating systems. "There be monsters" should be painted in huge red letters on the label. Because there is usually really big bugs. Best to let some other schmuck be the lab rat. But beyond that, there are other big issues that we already know about. For one, the hard drive is encrypted with bitlocker, which means if the OS ever gets broken or the passwords lost, all your data is GONE unless you have backups. And let's be honest, making backups is like flossing, we all tell ourselves we will do it, but we get lazy and forget. But secondly a great many perfectly usable computers will not be compatible. The cpu must be Gen 8 or newer and must have at LEAST a version 1.2, preferably v2.0 Trusted Platform Module, which are essentially cryptographic key holders.

If a windows 11 machine comes in with a hashed up OS, there wont be much I can do with it beyond nuking it and reinstalling everything from scratch.

It isn't often that I celebrate an internet systems attack, but this one is one I think we all can support.

Have you noticed a reduction in spam phone calls over the last 5 days? You can thank a continuous and ongoing DDOS (Distributed Denial Of Service) attack on several large VoIP service providers. This attack has been ongoing for 5 days, which is an extremely long time for such an attack. Even the spam calls I HAVE been recieving are "dead air" calls with no audio, just an open phone line. Let's hope this attack keeps going....

These stupid polls are how you get hacked. Stop responding to them.

WARNING! NEW ZERO-DAY ATTACKS NOW IN PROCESS! Microsoft has announced they have found an attack vector currently being circulated via a microsoft office file attached to emails. DO NOT OPEN ANY FILE ATTACHMENTS! The files use the Microsoft HTML rendering engine to render a malevolent ActiveX process. We all thought this went away when Internet Explorer went away. It did not. The guts of IE still live on embedded in windows and other Microsoft products.