05/17/2023
So a security alert for everyone out there: Google just recently released a new set of top level domains, which in layman terms are what allow websites to have things like .com or .net at the end.
The issue with this is some of them share names with common file names, like .zip and .mov. What this means is that bad actors can now create websites with common names for these sorts of files to phish and scam people, or in most cases, create an auto-downloader that will force a file onto your computer with malicious intent.
This has been out for a whole twelve days (five publicly) and there are already bad actors out there creating websites to trick people and con them. A common trick is going to be emails pretending to be sites like iCloud offering you zip files of your photos (which is common now with Apple phones and the like.)
What can you do? For now, be VERY careful when you type in filenames or websites in your file or web browser, check what websites you're on and that you click on, disable automatic downloads in your browser (I'll put guides for most common browsers in the comments), and when typing up file names in emails or messages be sure to put an interrupter between the name and the file extension.
