Hacked and Slashed...
Hi
I hope you are having a good September, and I hope we all have a good October. Right now, the hits keep coming. Buckle up because it’s been a crazy week.
Last week, my scribe, Melinda, (she typed this newsletter for me. I just pace around her small apartment and talk at her, and she kindly types for me. Actually, this week, I jumped up and down on the new cushy mats she got for the kitchen since they are a not far behind her chair.
Who am I? Hi there! I’m Ran, the sunny child from Curse Breaker Enchanted, just one of the many fantasy books that are free today. I keep my papa, the actual curse breaker on task. And in the Rogue Gods Trilogy, I’m all grown up with magic and opinions about using it. I keep those heroes on their toes in those three books, which you can now order on Amazon. And I’m the toddler who drives the Wild Hunt crazy and ruins their spell at one point in the Robin of Larkspur series. You should follow the Kickstarter for the illustrated versions. Wow, I get around! But I digress…)
Okay, now that the introduction is over, I’ll get back to the news. First up, news about my scribe. She had a hard week, but you made it better by sending well wishes. Thank you to everyone who wrote to her. Your kindness helped get her through another trying time.
What happened now? A mean person hacked her mom’s laptop and held its files for ransom. They wanted $2500 to release them.
How did this happen? Somehow her mom accidently downloaded ransomware instead of the program she was looking for.
Thankfully, Melinda works full-time in an IT department, and her coworker was able to wipe the laptop and restore it to factory default. None of the files were recoverable since the ransomware encrypted them. :(
According to her coworker, ransomware is pervasive and bad actors are trying hard to get you to download it. So it’s not a question of if you download it but a question of when. That sounds bad but there are some things you can do to protect yourself.
We don’t usually talk about cyber security in this newsletter, but maybe we should do it sometimes. We don’t want anyone else to go through this. So here are some tips:
Before you download anything from the internet, check to make sure that you are downloading it from a trusted source.
What does that mean?
Google the company and go to their website. Find the software you need to download on their official site. Don’t download it from an email.
If you received an email with an attachment, check to make sure the sender is someone you trust. Email addresses can be spoofed.
So the best way to know if a trusted source sent you that attachment is to contact that person through their official phone number or if you have an account, go to their website and see if there is a message on your account. Or open a new email and write to the person on a new email thread using the email address you have on file not the one on the email with the attachment.
Be suspicious of any email you get with an attachment that you didn’t request or expect to show up in your email address. It may be a phishing scam.
Hopefully, these tips will help you stay safe in the wilds of the internet. If you would like more tips from time to time, let us know. Melinda is required to attend a certain number of hours of cyber security training every year so she can definitely provide them. (The certain number changes every year, depending on the threats out there.)
And before we forget, we wish Bilbo and Frodo a happy birthday.
Hold up. Why haven’t we done this before?
We always mean to wish them a happy birthday, but when you go out your door, you never know where you’ll end up. Since this year, there were a lot of reminders in advance of the day, we actually got our act together in time to celebrate two of the most memorable characters in fantasy fiction.
I don’t know if you know this, but my scribe, Melinda, is a huge Tolkien fan. And I can prove it!
If you ever thought the Queen of All Trees reminded you of Galadriel, then you’re right! She inspired the character, and then the Queen Tree took things in another direction. But the inspo was there!
And now for some book news! Rogue Gift is still not done.
Melinda wrote a few chapters this week, but not as many as she hoped due to the pc drama we mentioned. Maybe it’s grief or just stress or really bad allergies or all three, but she wasn’t feeling well this week and didn’t get as much as she wanted accomplished. So she hopes to finish it this week.
That’s it for this week. Have an awesome week! I hope to have better news next week.
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