Online Security Guide » Phishing

Phishing under the name of Wikipedia

admin — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 10:24:22 +0000

Spammers are currently sending out large numbers of phishing emails entitled “Wikipedia e-mail address confirmation” that are designed to trick people into visiting compromised web pages.

Source: The H Security

Malicious Facebook Farm Town Ad Redirects to Fake Antivirus

admin — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 10:15:44 +0000

PC World – A malicious advertisement has been found within an application for Facebook that redirects users to fake antivirus software, according to a security researcher.

The banner advertisement for greeting cards is intermittently displayed with an application called Farm Town, which has more than 9 million monthly users according to information published on Facebook.

If the bad Shockwave Flash advertisement is displayed, the user is redirected from Facebook through several domains and ends up on a Web site selling fake antivirus software, said Sandi Hardmeier, who studies malicious advertisements and blogged about the issue.(See also “How to Remove Fake AV Software.“)

Source: Yahoo! News: Software News

Record Year for Online Fraud

admin — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:37:58 +0000

Good times for online fraudsters says FBI.

According to the FBI the losses for victims of Internet fraud in the US was estimated to 560 Million US dollars last year. This is almost the double amount compared to 2008.

I don’t know if ironic is the right word to use, but one of the most common tricks was to use FBIs name to trick victims to pay money or to give out sensitive information.

Internet Complaint Crime Center received 336,655 complaints about net fraud, an increase of 22%.

NW3C Director Donald Brackman said the report’s findings underscore the threat posed by cyber criminals. “The figures contained in this report indicate that criminals are continuing to take full advantage of the anonymity afforded them by the Internet. They are also developing increasingly sophisticated means of defrauding unsuspecting consumers. Internet crime is evolving in ways we couldn’t have imagined just five years ago.” But Brackman sounded an optimistic tone about the future. “With the public’s continued support, law enforcement will be better able to track down these perpetrators and bring them to justice.”

Sources:
Read the full 2009 Crime report (PDF)
FBI Pressrelease

Until next time

Peter – Your Online Security Guide

Phishing: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [alerts@cdcmailsystem.gov]

admin — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:45:47 +0000

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

Hotmail Passwords Phishing

admin — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 09:42:57 +0000

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.

Warning Phishing Attempts with Fake Microsoft Mail

admin — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:55:15 +0000

This morning I received an email looking like it was sent my Microsoft alerting me about a critical update for Microsoft Outlook. The Microsoft updates are normally automatic so I got suspicious.

Hovering my mouse over the link my suspicion was confirmed. It’s an advanced phishing attempt to lure information from the recipients of this email.

Phishing Attempt - Click for larger image

If you would proceed downloading this code it will NOT update your Outlook software, but instead install malicious code on your computer.

The so called Trojan that’s installed is created to gather sensitive personal information, log in names and passwords. The trojan will watch you visit major banks, facebook accounts, Myspace and Youtube.

Never click on links in emails that you aren’t familiar with. You can read more about Phisihing here.

Keep safe!

Peter – Your Online Security Guide

Do you Bank, Invest or Shop online?

Maureen — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:31:51 +0000

Identity Theft is on the Rise – Protect yourself Today

Do you bank, shop or chat to friends online? If your answer is yes you need to protect your identity online. Most of us do not think of online identity protection and we don’t realize the risk we put ourselves everyday. This is how many of us become victims of online scams. You do not have to be a Victim of Spammers!

Together with Softwarecasa we would like to make sure that you are protected and due to the tough economic times we are going to make it affordable by offering all our clients $5.00 Coupons as a special introductory price for GhostMyMail which protects your online identity and stops spam. In just a few seconds you can be fully protected. See below for info on how to redeem your $5.00 coupon.

Spammers will do just about anything to bypass filters to reach your inbox as a quick way of getting rich. We always hear of Millions of people like you and I whose personal information such as credit card details has been stolen through the internet. However you do not have to be a victim and you can stay one step ahead of the spammers by using GhostMyMail. This software will create a temporary, anonymous email address every time you shop or chat and this could save you millions!

Ghost Your Mail and Protect Yourself Today

Use GhostMyMail today which will create anonymous email addresses to send and receive messages freely while hiding your identity from the outside world. You will be able to safely bank, invest, shop and chat on the Internet without worrying that you may fall victim to scams. Also your inbox will be protected from being flooded with unwanted email, wasting your time. Get protected today!

1. Go to the page for GhostMyMail (opens in a new window so you can have this information handy)

2. Click on “Order Now”

3. Click on “Checkout” enter your personal information and click “Continue”

4. Once on this page click on “have code”

5. Enter your $5.00 Discount Code : boospammers

4. Click on “Checkout” and your discount will be reflected.

If you are way ahead and you have your identity protection covered you may want to protect yourself from hackers and keep your personal data personal! Checkout Softwarecasa’s Special Offer on Steganos Safe on a very special offer but valid only in the month of May, SAVE $5.00.

Phishing – What is it and how do you discover it?

admin — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 17:29:55 +0000

What is Phishing, how to protect yourself against Phishing and examples of Phishing.

Phishing is the use of fraudulent e-mails and Web sites to lure consumers into sharing personal and financial information. According to the most recent data from the Anti-Phishing Working Group, there were 1,125 unique attacks in April — a 180 percent increase over March (statistics from 2004). Since then it has only been growing.

Criminals are sending out millions of “urgent” e-mails trying to get unsuspecting consumers to divulge personal information such as their Social Security numbers or the passwords for their online accounts.

Some tell consumers the federal insurance on their savings accounts will be canceled unless they immediately update their personal details. Others claim to be from Internet service providers redoing their billing lists and others say something has gone wrong with a credit card transaction and that additional information is needed or the card will be canceled.

Sometimes they include links both to a website where they want consumers to divulge their information as well as links to the real credit institution website, to seem legitime.

What can you do to protect yourself against Phishing

Consumers can take proactive steps to thwart identity theft, such as:

– Regularly obtaining personal credit reports from all three credit reporting agencies and carefully reviewing the information.

– Question and correct any inaccuracies.

- Try to avoid providing their mother’s maiden name as a security feature. In many cases, identity thieves can find this information with little difficulty. Instead, consumers should substitute a name of personal significance, such as a grandmother’s maiden name, a friend or family member’s nickname, or a favorite author’s name.

– Assigning a separate password for each account requiring one. This step can help limit the amount of damage a criminal can do.

– Shredding documents that contain important personal information such as account numbers or Social Security numbers before discarding.

Examples that I got in my mailbox last week
(Links has been removed)

CitiBank Phishing

From: Citibank [user-supports09@citibank.com]
Subject: 0fficiaI Notice for aII users of Citiban

(Please note, the whole white part above is actually one big picture and one big link and it doesn’t link to the same place that it’s showing.)

From: Fleet [user-support4@fleet.com]
Subject: 0fficial Notice for all FleetBank clients!

(Probably the two examples above is from the same group since they are so similar.)

MySpace & Facebook Virus Attack

admin — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 08:46:34 +0000

Two of the biggest social media sites, MySpace and Facebook, have recently faced a worm which has offered people a video but underhandedly inserts a Trojan into their vulnerable systems.

This social media phenomenon has been bound to catch the attention of vicious hackers and criminals. Especially because many younger users are may not be as cautious in clicking on flashing links or pop-ups. This has contributed to the most recent malware problem circulating the internet.

The worm has been identified as “Networm.Win32.Koobface.a.” and “Networm.Win32.Koobface.b”. Each of these viruses creates spam among comments and a link to the video originally selected. The link attached to the spam comments goes to a .pl site and generates a pop up alert that notifies the viewer of a necessary upgraded. If taken a step further, the worm is then inserted onto the computer. After the worm is in place is makes the PC a botnetted device and the Trojans have the ability to upload modules from this machine to others.

Authored by E. Laing, an associate of a network cables distributor

Vishing and ID Theft – New Consumer Threats

admin — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:43:14 +0000

Identity theft is not only done online. In fact the majority is done offline. Only 14% of cases are based online. So although many con artist do this at cyberspace, it can also do damage in the real world. By stealing Id’s, Credit cards and checking accounts they can access into your finances.

GT got her car broken into by thieves. They broke the window of her car and got her purse and some other valuable things. She expected that her credit cards would be used for some unauthorized purchase.

After a few days her bank called trying to verify a large purchase made on her credit card. Not just that, she also got charged for a maternity bill when she wasn’t even pregnant.

“They used my checking account and credit cards before I had a chance to cancel them”, says GT, a PR executive from San Francisco. A few months later she found out that they had also opened a new checking account in her name.

That one incident made her to go in debt and she couldn’t even use the account. This can be frightening to consumers who have credit cards and checking accounts. Someone can just steal your identity.

Now I am more careful and observant, says GT who has just only recently recovered from the financial mess that she encountered.

Majority of the people believe that Identity theft could only do damage when credit cards are used for online purchases. Well they are definitely wrong. A stolen wallet or bag would create a worse scenario.

For the one out of three identity theft victims who knows how their information was taken, more than 75 percent said it involved a physical method such as a stolen wallet, a phone or mail-order sale, stolen mail, or a theft by someone they knew, compared with 14 percent who reported that it involved online access.

What is Vishing

The Wikipedia definition of Vishing:

“Vishing is the criminal practice of using social engineering and Voice over IP (VoIP) to gain access to private personal and financial information from the public for the purpose of financial reward.

The term is a combination of “voice” and phishing. Vishing exploits the public’s trust in landline telephone services, which have traditionally terminated in physical locations which are known to the telephone company, and associated with a bill-payer.

The victim is often unaware that VoIP allows for caller ID spoofing, inexpensive, complex automated systems and anonymity for the bill-payer. Vishing is typically used to steal credit card numbers or other information used in identity theft schemes from individuals.

Vishing is very hard for legal authorities to monitor or trace. To protect themselves, consumers are advised to be highly suspicious when receiving messages directing them to call and provide credit card or bank numbers.

Rather than provide any information, the consumer is advised to contact their bank or credit card company directly to verify the validity of the message.”

Stay tuned for the second part in this series on what to do to protect yourself against vishing, phishing and similar threats.

Until next time

Peter – Your Online Security Guide