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If you think you’re a target of a phishing scam or other fraud in an email, Xbox instant message, or on a website, you can report it. Most Microsoft products have built-in tools that make this easier.
Hotmail. If you receive a suspicious email message that asks for personal information, click the check box next to the message in your Hotmail inbox. Click Mark as and then point to Phishing scam.
Xbox 360. If someone is trying to phish you in Xbox 360, bring up the player profile, select File Complaint, select File Complaint again, select Text and Voice Communication and then select Text message to file a complaint, where it will be reviewed by our Enforcement Team.
Internet Explorer. While you are on a suspicious site, click the gear icon () and then point to Safety. Then click Report Unsafe Website and use the web page that is displayed to report the website.
Microsoft Office Outlook. Attach the suspicious email message to a new email message and forward it toreportphishing@antiphishing.org. To learn how to attach an email message to an email message, see Attach a file or other item to an email message.
Get more information about how to report and avoid fraud.
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Third-party websites have the ability to track your online behavior and share this information without your knowledge or consent. Tracking Protection, a new feature in Internet Explorer 9, lets you choose which third-party sites can receive your information and track you online. When you add a Tracking Protection List, Internet Explorer will prevent your information from being sent by limiting data requests to websites in the list. For more information on tracking, see this recent IE blog post: Browse Without Being Browsed.
To turn on Tracking Protection
- Open Internet Explorer by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Internet Explorer, and then, in the list of results, click Internet Explorer.
- Click the Tools button , point to Safety, and then click Tracking protection.
- In the Manage Add-on dialog box, click a Tracking Protection list, and then click Enable.
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Microsoft releases security updates on the second Tuesday of every month.
The bulletin announces the release of 9 security updates:
- 5 updates for Microsoft Windows
- 1 update for Internet Explorer
- 1 update for Microsoft Office
- 1 update for Microsoft SharePoint
- 1 update for .NET Framework and Silverlight
Get the updates.
Download a video about the updates.
To get more information about security updates and other privacy and security issues delivered to your email inbox, sign up for our newsletter.
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Today the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC) posted details about the February security updates. On Tuesday, February 14 at approximately 10 AM Pacific Time Microsoft will release 9 bulletins.
The easiest way to get the updates when they're available is to turn on Windows automatic updating. For more information about how this works, see Understanding Windows automatic updating.
The Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification Service offers details about security updates approximately three business days before they are released. We do this to allow customers (especially IT professionals) to plan for effective deployment of security updates.
Advanced Notification includes information about:
- The number of new security updates being released
- The software affected
- Severity levels of vulnerabilities
- Information about any detection tools relevant to the updates
For more information about the security updates that will be released on February 14, see Microsoft Security Bulletin Advance Notification for February 2012.
For official risk and impact analysis, as well as deployment guidance, visit the MSRC blog. If you are on Twitter, you might want also want to follow @MSFTSecResponse.
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A recent Ponemon Institute study (in cooperation with PC Tools) challenges the myth that people who fall for scams are generally older. According to survey results, 18-25 year olds are among the groups that are more susceptible to online scams. Respondents also said that a free prize or free antivirus software were the most likely scam offers that they would respond to.
Get more information about how to spot scams and protect yourself from them.
See more results from the study.
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If you have automatic updating turned on and you’re not using the latest version of Internet Explorer that works on your computer, Windows Update will automatically upgrade you this month. Internet Explorer 9 is Microsoft's latest web browser with even more security features, but you can opt-out if you want.
Don’t want to wait? You can download Internet Explorer 9 yourself right now.
More information
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Microsoft’s Halo 4 Xbox video game won’t be released until December 2012, but some scammers are already launching fake Halo 4 beta websites designed to trick you into giving away your personal information or installing malicious software.
Don’t be fooled.
Get tips on how to report, recognize, and avoid scams.
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We recently received this message from a small business owner:
I am stunned by the number of fake emails I get through my store’s email system, and some of them are quite sophisticated. I get them all the time from “UPS,” the “Better Business Bureau,” and today, “Bank of America.” Most of the time, they encourage me to open an attachment and fill out a form to prevent my account from being closed or to address a customer complaint. But sometimes the language and graphics are really quite professional. How can I protect my business against this kind of fraud?
The messages described here are known as phishing and if a phishing message appears in your email inbox, you can delete it or report it by using the newest versions of Internet Explorer, Hotmail, and Microsoft Office Outlook.
Use Microsoft tools to report a suspected scam
- Internet Explorer. If you are on a site that seems suspicious, click the gear icon and then point to Safety. Then click Report unsafe website and use the web page that appears to report the website.
- Hotmail. If you receive a suspicious email message that asks you for personal information, click the check box next to the message in your Hotmail inbox. Click Mark as and then point to Phishing scam.
- Microsoft Office Outlook. Attach the suspicious email message to a new email message and forward it to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. To learn how to attach an email message to an email message, see Attach a file or other item to an email message.
You can also download the Microsoft Junk E-mail Reporting Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook.
Reduce the number of phishing emails you receive
- Use email software with built-in spam filtering
- Keep your spam and phishing filters current
- Be careful about sharing your email or instant message address
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Most of us put a boundary between our personal and professional lives. Online that’s not easy to do.
In the Official Microsoft blog, Brendon Lynch, Microsoft Chief Privacy Officer, writes, “Every piece of personal information that exists online about you -- whether posted by you or by others -- has the potential to impact how you are perceived by family and friends, an employer, a mortgage lender, and more.”
That’s why, on Data Privacy Day 2012, Microsoft is providing information and resources about how you can manage your personal information online.
Top tips to manage your information online
- Stay vigilant and conduct your own “reputation report” from time to time.
- Consider separating your professional and personal profiles.
- Adjust your privacy settings.
Get the rest of these tips and learn more about how to safeguard your online reputation:
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You’d have to be a real early bird to be expecting your income tax return in the United States already. And yet, we’ve begun to see phishing scams that appear to come from support@irs.gov and offer links where you can check the status of your return.
The message uses language straight from the IRS website and goes something like this:
You filed your tax return and you’re expecting a refund. You have just one question and you want the answer now – Where’s My Refund?
Access this secure Web site to find out if the IRS received your return and whether your refund was processed and sent to you.
To get to your refund status, you’ll need to provide the following information as shown on your return:
Your first and last name
Your Social Security Number (or IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number)
Your Credit Card Information (for the successful complete of the process)
This email is a scam. Don’t respond and don’t send them any personal information.
Here are several common scam techniques that this message and others might use:
- Looking like a large organization or company. The text and images in this email were stolen from the IRS website and make the email look legitimate.
- Requests for personal or financial information. The IRS does not ask for personal information like this in email.
- Bad grammar or spelling. The only part of the email that was not copied from the IRS website was the section requesting credit card information. It’s no coincidence that this is also the section with grammatical and spelling errors.
If you receive a message like this, delete it or report it. Learn more about how to recognize, avoid, and report scams like this one.
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