Web Security Tips
Email and fraudulent websites
Sometimes criminals may send you email that looks like it has come from Mid America Web. These phony emails ask you to go to a website that also looks like Mid America Web and provide your personal account information. Some of these phony emails even caution that if you don't do this, your account may be suspended. But the website is also a fake, and this is a fraud attempt.
This is the most common type of online fraud, and is called "phishing and spoofing". Criminals send these phony email messages or direct someone to a fraudulent website for one goal, to steal personal and financial information.
If you should ever receive an email that appears to be suspicious, do not reply to it or click on the link it provides. Simply delete it. To report a suspicious email that uses Mid America Web's name, you can forward it to abuse@midamerica.ws. (If you have general questions about Mid America Web or your accounts, please go to Contact Us.)
Spyware and viruses
Spyware and viruses are both malicious programs that are loaded onto your computer without your knowledge. Whether the goal of these programs is to capture or destroy information, to ruin the performance of your computer, or to bombard you with advertising, you don't want them.
Viruses spread by infecting computers and then replicating. Spyware disguises itself as a legitimate application and embeds itself into your computer, to monitor your activity and collect information.
Spyware and viruses are both serious threats to the security of your computer.
Pop-up advertisements
Pop-ups are the advertisements that "pop up" in a separate browser window. When you click on some of these pop-ups, it's possible that you're also downloading "spyware" or "adware."
Sometimes, criminals create pop-up ads that look like they come from a respected institution and ask you to enter personal account information, but Mid America Web and most other institutions will never ask you to verify personal account information in pop-ups.