C I Host Warns Business Owners About A New Trojan Virus and Scams That Create Holiday Season Nightmares ***** “Watch out for the new nasty email Trojan horse that sneaks into the backdoor of your computer pretending to be a friend with photo attachments, but instead steals data from your computer,” warns Christopher Faulkner, CEO C I Host.

The world's largest privately held hosting company warns holiday Internet users to beware of a new Trojan horse and scams.

Bedford, Texas (PRWEB) November 27, 2003 --— Bedford, Texas — “Every holiday season thousands of innocent people let their guard down and become victims of Internet scams and viruses that wreak havoc on their computer and business,” said Christopher Faulkner, CEO of C I Host, Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. “The latest Trojan is known as Sysbug (www.f-secure.com/v-descs/sysbug.shtml) and gives its creator a backdoor into infected systems running Windows from 95 through XP versions. It copies itself to the Windows installation folder and adds a new registry entry that ensures the virus will run every time the computer starts up.”

   Faulkner reminds users to keep their anti-virus definitions and programs software updated and to back up valuable business information weekly on a disc or another hard drive.

   “The Trojan arrives in an e-mail with an attachment that is zipped and contains an executable file (.exe). Sender is james2003@hotmail.com and the subject line says ‘Re[2]: Mary.’ The e-mail begins: ‘Hello my dear Mary, I’ve been thinking about you all night.’ The Trojan gathers data on e-mail accounts and remote access accounts, then opens a TCP port and listens for commands from its author,” explained Faulkner.

C I Host also warns Internet users and business owners to beware of some of the most common scams on the internet such as the Pyramids:

   “Pyramids are where the investors recruited early in these illegal schemes are paid with money from investors recruited later,” said Faulkner. “But eventually it becomes impossible to have enough recruits for the payment structure to work, so the scheme breaks down and most of the investors lose the money they've shelled out. The so-called ‘investment strategy’ that requires you to invest a large amount of money and recruit others to do the same is often a pyramid scheme. If it sounds too good to be true it probably is.”
   
   Faulkner also warns users about Stock manipulation. “The distribution of fraudulent company information can affect stock prices so much so it gives the scam artist an advantage. The false information may warn of bankruptcy or acquisition, affecting the price of stock. If you invest in stocks with your small business revenue, be aware of this scam. Double check your sources carefully when you receive stock tips or news.”

   Another scheme to be aware of is the Internet auction fraud.

   “While you may find online auctions a useful way to obtain reduced-price goods for your small business, be wary when performing transactions on auction sites,” said Faulkner. “While most auctions featured at reputable sites are trustworthy, this form of online trading allows scam artists the chance to take advantage of buyers. Read all of the auction site's agreement to be sure you will be protected in the case of a scam, such as no-show products or fraudulent use of your credit card. Make sure the site you are using offers secured payment options. There should be a lock symbol appearing in the bottom right hand side of your screen showing an image of a padlock. Finally, be sure to keep print copies of all confirmations of your bids and transactions.”

   Faulkner also warns about phony “free money” schemes.

   “In these scams, advertisers offer ’registration’ or ’information’ relating to government programs you are lead to believe that you might qualify for,” he said. “They require a fee charged to your credit card, in exchange for a gateway to the secrets of government programs. Or it may involve other sources of free money for small businesses.”

   The “Funding” or “Free Money” scam may claim the fee is for processing your application, which is required to claim this free money warns Faulkner. The credit card transaction takes place over an insecure server, and the company later disappears, abuses the credit card information, or never delivers the product you paid for.”

   C I Host Offers three powerful website resources for small business owners and users to help them become more aware of the scams. They include:

• Internet Fraud Complaint (www.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp) The FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center have teamed up to provide this resource, which features a File a Complaint page.

• Federal Trade Commission (www.ftc.org) takes complaints or reports illegal and deceptive online practices.

• National Fraud Information Center (www.fraud.org) provides a host of resources for all kinds of scams.

About CI Host:
C I Host, the world’s largest privately held hosting company, has been ranked #1 in speed by the Adoloma Web Hosting Guide. C I Host has been consistently ranked among the Top five Web hosting companies out of 16,000 around the globe by c|net's Ultimate Web Host List, HostPulse, WebHostsOnline.com and HostChart.com. C I Host was named among the Top 25 Web hosting companies by HostIndex.com.

C I Host provides Web page hosting and server colocation for 200,000 individual consumers and companies in 182 countries worldwide. C I Host has won awards for its innovations customers like The Salvation Army, McDonalds, GTE, Del Monte Foods, Lay-Z-Boy, The United States Department of Commerce, ICRA and Sierra Software.