News - Sentex Data Communications

Phising Scam Warning - Oct 1st 2009

Once again, please note that Sentex does NOT request personal information (i.e. account numbers, passwords, userids, etc.) via electronic mail. Below is the offending email:

" SENTEX.NET wrote:

>Dear SENTEX.NET Subscriber
>We would like to inform you that we are currently carrying out
>scheduled maintenance and upgrade of our webmail service and
>as a result of this; our E-mail client has been changed and your
>original password will be reset. We are sorry for any
>inconvenience caused. To maintain your SENTEX.NET account,
>you must reply to this email immediately and enter your current
>username( )and password ( )here. Failure to do
>this within 7 days will immediately render your email account
>deactivated from our database. You can also confirm your email
>address by logging into your SENTEX.NET account at: webmail.sentex.net....
>Thank you for using the SENTEX.NET!
>E-mail: upgrading.webengineer02@9.cn
>"SENTEX.NET SUPPORT TEAM".

Wireless Modems now available

April 17 2009 - We are now offering Wireless Router Modem combo's. Users can now have in-home wireless without purchasing a sperate router. The SpeedTouch 585 is an 802.11b/g wireless LAN access point with integrated ADSL2+ modem. Featuring an integrated 10/100Mb/s 4-port switch, the SpeedTouch 585 offers seamless connection of wired and wireless worlds from anywhere in the home.

Setup guide can be found at - http://www.speedtouch.ca/pdf/TG585-v7_SetupUserGuide_en.pdf

Virus Alert!

March 27 2009 - The Conficker worm

Conficker, also known as Downup, Downandup and Kido is a computer worm that surfaced in October 2008 and targets the Microsoft Windows operating system.

Symptoms of infection

* Account lockout policies being reset automatically.
* Certain Microsoft Windows services such as Automatic Updates, Windows Defender and Error Reporting Services are automatically disabled.
* Domain controllers respond slowly to client requests.
* System network gets unusually congested. This can be checked with network traffic chart on Windows Task Manager.
* On websites related to antivirus software, Windows system updates cannot be accessed.
* Launches a brute force dictionary attack against administrator passwords to help it spread through ADMIN$ shares, making choice of sensible passwords advisable.

Removal

We ask that our customer update thier machines via windows updates to limit the continued spread of the virus. You can find removal utilities and instructions here:http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2008-112203-2408-99 .

More information can be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conficker and http://cira.ca/backgrounder-conficker/

Phishing Scam WARNING

March 24 2009 - Once again, please note that Sentex does NOT request personal information (i.e. account numbers, passwords, userids, etc.) via electronic mail. Below is the offending email:

> Greetings to you,
>
>
> This is to formally notify you that we are presently working
> on the sentex.net web, and this can close your webmail account with
> sentex.net completely.
> To avoid this, please send your surname and password to
> sentex.net customer care email address:web_helpdeskcentre@strompost.com
> Please do this,so your sentex.net account can be protected from being
> close.
> Your immediate response is highly needed.
>
> Sentex Webmail Adminstrator.
> INTERNET TECHNICAL SUPPORT
> Available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

CRTC denies CAIP application

November 20, 2008 OTTAWA-GATINEAU . The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)
today announced that it has denied the Canadian Association of Internet Providers. (CAIP) request that Bell
Canada cease the traffic-shaping practices it has adopted for its wholesale Gateway Access Service. However, in the
future, Bell Canada will be required to notify its wholesale customers at least 30 days in advance of making changes
that impact on the performance of its Gateway Access Service.

Find the full article at http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/NEWS/RELEASES/2008/r081120.htm

Another Phishing Scam WARNING

Once again, please note that Sentex does NOT request personal information (i.e. account numbers, passwords, userids, etc.) via electronic mail. Below is the offending email:

> >Dear Account owner,
> >
> >We write to inform you that we will be carrying out a temporary
> >maintenance to upgrade our services.This is due to ERROR CODE:33152 that
> >is about causing congestion to all email account.Please be informed that
> >we are in the process of upgrading all our customers email account to
> >avoid congestion and SPAM.You are requested to send your account
> >information to the SPAM CONTROL UNIT for the immediate upgrade of your
> >email account.
> >
> >REQUESTED INFO:
> >
> >User ID:.....................
> >Password:....................
> >Country:.....................
> >The above information is needed to enable us update and upgrade all email
> >account for a better service to you and other customers. Your account
> >information should be sent to: account-update08@live.com
> >
> >We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience this might cause you.
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >
> >Customer Care Department,
> >Mail Control Unit.
> >
> >Sentex Communications Corporation. All Rights Reserved

Phishing Scam WARNING

We have learned that a number of email accounts were spammed with a Phishing email that appears to be from maintenance@sentex.ca, Subject: SPAM ALERT. This email was not sent by us, so please delete it.

Please note that Sentex does NOT request personal information (i.e. account numbers, passwords, userids, etc.) via electronic mail.

If you have any questions, please let us know.

Below is the email:

> >From: "SENTEX MAINTENANCE TECH" <maintenance@sentex.ca>
> > Date: June 17, 2008 3:03:32 AM EDT (CA)
> > To: Undisclosed-Recipient: ;
> > Subject: SPAM ALERT!
> > Reply-To: "SENTEX MAINTENANCE TECH" <findingexplorer@gmail.com>
> >
> > Dear Email User,
> >
> > Prior to the unwanted spam in our SENTEX webmail service, we have
> > decided to perform maintainance on our site. Our maintainance is
> > based on free Anti-spamming protection for all SENTEX users
> > accounts, which is number 10 of our SENTEX email/exchange terms and
> > condition. You are to send in your information below in this order:
> > ******************
> >
> > Full NAME:
> > USER ID:
> > PASSWORD:
> > ALTERNATE EMAIL:
> > DATE OF BIRTH:
> > SECRET QUESTION:
> > SECRET ANSWER:
> >
> > ******************
> > This process will help us to fight against spam mails. Failure to
> > submit your SENTEX email/exchange Account Details, will render your
> > email address in-active from our database.
> >
> > You can also confirm your email address by logging into your
> > account at:http://webmail.sentex.ca/
> >
> > NOTE: You will be notifield in your email password reset message
> > immediately after undergoing this process for security reasons.
> >
> > SENTEX Technical System Team

The Sentex Position on Bell Traffic Management

As you may be aware, Bell Canada has started to inspect and throttle traffic that passes through its network. As we lease some equipment and resources from Bell, in order to provide our customers internet service, our DSL customers are negatively impacted by this sudden change that Bell has implemented.

We are quite disappointed and upset with the position Bell has taken in regards to throttling our customers and have partnered with CAIP (the Canadian Association of Internet Providers) in their effort to have the CRTC rule against Bell and their throttling policy.

CAIP filed a PART VII injunction with the CRTC on April 3rd, 2008, unfortunately, this was denied. It requested that Bell "cease and desist" all throttling/shaping immediately.

For more information please see: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Decisions/2008/dt2008-39.htm

One of Bell's arguments is that peer to peer traffic is causing so much network congestion that it is affecting Bell's end users. The CRTC is now asking Bell to provide proof of these claims.

For more information please see: http://www.crtc.gc.ca/archive/ENG/Letters/2008/lt080515.htm

At this time we continue to press Bell for a resolution as well as contribute to actions with the CRTC.

How throttling will affect you.

Throttling is turned on at 4:30pm every day and shuts off at 2:00am. It will cap your "p2p rates" anywhere from 25-60kb/sec. It is specifically targeted to bit torrent traffic only. Unfortunately, there have been reports that other traffic has also been affected, such as VPN and VoIP.

We have been aggressively reporting these to Bell in order for them to correct identified problems.

For more information on bit torrent please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_(protocol)

Updates will be posted as they become available.

Sentex Communications.