Nigerias Anti-Scam Initiative
Posted on February 8, 2010
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No one’s sure how many there are to go, but according to a Nigerian official, there are about 800 scam email addresses and 18 criminals that can be considered “down.” Mrs. Farida Waziri, the chairperson of a government agency, announced that some shutdowns and arrests occurred thanks to an initiative called Project Eagle Claw.
Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission is the force behind Project Eagle Claw, and with Microsoft’s help, has just started ramping it up. Waziri explained in a statement, “We expect that Eagle Claw as conceived will be 100% operational within six months and at full capacity, it will take Nigeria out of the top 10 list of countries with the highest incidence of fraudulent e-mails.”
Google Goes After Impersonator Scammers
Posted on February 8, 2010
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As huge corporations go, Google’s a pretty cuddly one, but according to the search giant itself, everyone should be careful about offers of employment or wealth that involve its name. “Google Money” scammers represent a growing problem that the company is trying to combat.
A post on the Official Google Blog announced today, “Despite hundreds of consumer complaints and our own efforts to keep these sites from tricking people, some scams continue. To fight back, we’re working to stop various fraudulent ‘Google Money’ schemes, and this week filed suit against Pacific WebWorks and several other unnamed defendants.”
Senate Uncovers Online Credit Card Tricks
Posted on February 8, 2010
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A report issued by a U.S. Senate committee only uses the word “scam” when quoting different consumers; the report’s title employs the phrase “aggressive sales tactics,” instead. Still, it looks like a number of big online companies have been caught profiting off people’s confusion.
Read the rest of this story on Security News
McAfee: Cyberwarfare A Big Threat
Posted on February 8, 2010
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It might not be long before we return to the days of schoolchildren diving under their desks in warfare preparedness drills. Only now, instead of hiding from nukes, the kiddos may be unplugging their computers, since McAfee has indicated that a cyberarms race is taking place.
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| McAfee: Cyberwarfare A Big Threat |
Dave DeWalt, the president and CEO of McAfee, said in a statement, “Several nations around the world are actively engaged in cyberwar-like preparations and attacks.” These include China, France, Israel, Russia, and the U.S., and it’s no secret that the members of this group aren’t all on great terms.
What’s more, cyberwarfare’s barrier to entry is so low in comparison to traditional hostilities (a roomful of computers vs. thousands of men, tanks, and airplanes) that lots of other countries are almost sure to pursue the idea.
Then, if and when the virtual bullets start flying, things could get really nasty. McAfee reported, “Attackers are not only building their cyberdefenses, but cyberoffenses, targeting infrastructure such as power grids, transportation, telecommunication, finance and water supplies, because damage can be done quickly and with little effort.”
At least this state of affairs would create a good job market for security professionals. Everybody else might benefit in a physical manner from the dive-and-unplug exercises, too.
Phishing: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [alerts@cdcmailsystem.gov]
Posted on December 2, 2009
Filed Under ID Theft, Online Security News, Phishing | Leave a Comment
Did you get an email from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [alerts@cdcmailsystem.gov], then DO NOT respond or click any links.
This is a fake message trying to get you to give up personal information that will be used for illegal purposes.
I have received several of these the last few days with slightly different wordings, title and sender information. In any regard you can be sure that CDC or other government organizations will not email you about information like this. An easy way to see where the link goes in messages like this is to hold your mouse over the image. As you can see on the image of the email I have enclosed here it goes to a website on Isle of Man.
Until next time – Stay Safe!
Peter – Your Online Security Guide
Ikee Worm on Ipone
Posted on November 10, 2009
Filed Under Cell Phone, Malware, Worms | Leave a Comment
Hacked Iphones can be infected with the Ikee worm. The code that’s build like a worm only affects “jailbreaked” iphones.
To be affected the user also has to activated login via ssh and still use the original password. So for experienced users it’s not very difficult to protect yourself.
Ikee exchanges the background image of the phone and looks for more phones to infect but no other damage has been reported.
The creator of the worm, a 21 year old Australian says it was supposed to be a joke and the intention was never for the worm to spread.
Change your passwords, people…
Until next time 
Peter – Your Online Security Guide
Software Piracy Equals Worms
Posted on November 3, 2009
Filed Under Online Security News, Worms, cybercrime | 1 Comment
In a Online Safety Study that was published by Microsoft yesterday show that worms are the biggest security threat on the Internet. The study refers to the worm Conficker that infected over five million computers the first six months 2009.
In the Microsoft study the company also found that countries with high numbers of pirate copying of software also get hit harder by security problems.
“There is a direct connection between pirate copying and the number of infected computers” says Jeff Williams on Microsoft Malware Protection Center.
Pirate copying in China is about four times bigger than in the US.
Until next time 
Peter – Your Online Security Guide
PDF Security Patch Tuesday
Posted on October 14, 2009
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Today being the second Tuesday of the month, means it’s “Microsoft Patch Tuesday”.
According to Microsoft, there will be thirteen updates / fixes in total and 8 of them critical. You may have heard about vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Acrobat which puts PDF files at risk.
Patches are scheduled for today for Adobe products so make sure you get them. If you have your PC set for automatic updates, they will be installed by themselves.
If you have not, in many cases you will see a yellow shield in the bottom right task tray. You should click on that shield and install the updates. If you do not see the shield, make sure to go to the windows update site and let Microsoft update your computer.
Hotmail Passwords Phishing
Posted on October 6, 2009
Filed Under ID Theft, Phishing, cybercrime | Leave a Comment
Microsoft has confirmed that thousands of hotmail passwords has leaked on the internet.
Microsoft claim that the company hasn’t been hacked, but the information was retrieved by the hackers by phishing. It is rumored that over 10,000 accounts has been hacked. Hotmail has over 400 million registered accounts.
If you own a hotmail account you should head over there urgently and change your login information.
Conficker attacks Hospital Devices
Posted on September 8, 2009
Filed Under Malware, Online Security News, Trojans, Worms | Leave a Comment
Hello Friends,
Have you had of the latest Conficker’s massive infestation?
The damaging and popular downadup worm – Conficker – has been reported to have done its malicious attacks in hospital operations. It’s finally made its way into Hospital medical devices and its wrecking havoc.
The organizer of the Conficker Working Group and Senior Vice President for Neustar, Rodney Joffe, told a Congress that almost 300 medical devices under one manufacturer were infected with the worm, said CBS news.
Most of the infected devices were those that were connected to local area networks (LANs).Hospital operations have been affected and it has become a very serious problem that must be kept a close eye on.
Medical devices have been compromised due to the connection to an un-patched version of Microsoft’s Operating System. The patch which carries the protection from such worms and virus attack was released late last year but because of the 90-day notice regulation of U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it had not been installed.
It has come to light that not only hospitals have been affected and are vulnerable from Conficker, other industries too have been hit hard, so there’s no complete assurance of safety unless you are well protected with the right antivirus.
Conficker manifests and self copies itself on machines, targeting those that are run in Microsoft Windows and do not have the patch installed.
Conficker-proof your machines and prevent it from being attacked, make sure to install the latest windows updates which can be found on the microsoft website and most important of all update your security solutions.
The top conficker-proof security software for your business in the market today include Bitdefender Enterprise Solution, Counterspy Enterprise and Ad-Aware Enterprise.
Don’t wait until its too late you have been warned!
Until Next Time
Peter – Your Online Security Guide
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Online threats are increasingly affecting work and leisure, stealing productivity and causing damage. This website is an attempt to help increase the protection and disarm any potential threats.
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