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You know to watch for phishing attacks, which use e-mail messages purporting to be from legitimate businesses to trick you into divulging private information. You're cautious and use a good spam filter, but phishing messages still get through. And these messages are more dangerous than ever. According to Cisco, almost 200 billion spam messages are sent daily. They have one thing in common: They want your money. Most computer users can spot phishing messages. Unfortunately, cybercriminals have become more sophisticated, too. Targeted phishing attacks account for 0.4% of spam. That may seem minor, but it's 800 million messages a day. For example, you receive a message purportedly from your Internet service provider. It greets you by name and says your billing information is outdated. It says you must click a link to update your information. If you comply, your information will be stolen. This is the type of targeted attack you will see more of in 2009.
The security industry is fueled largely by FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt.) So it's not unusual for most forecasts in the industry to be full of grim prognostications of imminent chaos and calamities. By that measure, the predictions contained in several recent security forecasts for 2009 will probably be somewhat of a relief for security managers. Most of the security vendors' forecasts predict dramatic spikes in volumes of spam, phishing, botnet activity and malware targeted at companies. The reports also highlight sharp increases in attacks directed against Web and mobile applications. But the concerns largely deal with issues that security managers are already familiar with and there are few, if any, really nasty new threats in store around the corner, according to the forecasts. Like with years past, forecasts are colored by the vendor's specific view of their places in the market. For example, Verisign, a provider of Internet infrastructure services, predicted increased attacks against critical targets including SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition ) systems, which deliver power. Desktop security software vendor Sophos , meanwhile, warned about dramatic increases in malicious e-mail attachments, and huge spikes in spam volume. And Web application security product vendors predicted an increase in Web attacks.
Oneof the main reasons Windows users switch to the Macintosh is to escape the constant onslaught of malware. Viruses, Trojans and spyware are a constant threat to the Windows ecosystem. Apple touts the Mac as being a haven from malware, and certainly in the past that’s been the case. But the past is no guarantee of what will happen in the future. The Mac’s market share is growing rapidly — from 2 percent just a few years ago to around 10 percent now — and the bad guys are starting to notice. Although relatively few now, there are an increasing number of threats taking aim at Mac users. Add to that the fact that fleeing Windows users are bringing their bad habits with them. As I’ve written before, these folks may feel they can now compute with impunity, because they’re on what they’ve been told is a safe platform. That attitude is a security disaster waiting to happen. That’s because most of the Mac malware now out there are Trojans — programs that masquerade as something else and require users to take action to install them onto Macs. Note that this is the same technique that many PC spyware programs use, and this kind of social engineering is frighteningly effective. Computer users who ignore common sense when surfing are eventually going to get burned, no matter what OS is on their hard drives.
Despite an ailing economy, revenue for online ads has reached more than $21 billion a year and is the lifeblood for search engines and websites. Some people are wondering who is behind the ads. One consumer group is warning that many of them are scams. Consumers might want to think twice before they click. When you go online you probably run into many paid ads. Some of them can be tempting, offering free phones or discount hotels. "If you're on a website, if it looks shady, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is. So, go back. Don't give out information about yourself," says Jarrod Agen from the Alliance Against Bait & Click. Agen says a simple search for a favorite brand name could lead you to an unrelated website, one that may be out to get your personal information or even infect your computer with spyware.
MANILA, Philippines -- Spam levels will increase next year as perpetrators will try to take advantage of the global economic crisis and the popularity of social networking sites, Symantec said in a recent report. Among its security trends to watch out for in 2009, Symantec noted the global economic crisis will be the basis of many new attacks. This would include phishing attacks. Email messages whose premise would involve the closing of a given bank meant to spread false alarm are just a few examples, Symantec said. Similarly, attacks would also exploit other types of fraudulent activities, such as e-mail messages promising easy mortgage or refinancing. "Expect to see an increase in scams that prey on people who have had homes foreclosed, an increase in work from home scams targeting the unemployed, and an increase in spam that mimics job sites," Symantec said in its forecast.
Amazon.com Inc. last week warned customers running Windows XP that a Samsung digital photo frame it sold until earlier this month might have come with malware on the driver installation CD. An Amazon.com customer posted the warning a week ago to the online retailer's user forum. In its note to customers, Amazon.com said that a Samsung advisory had been issued for the SPF-85H, an 8-in. digital photo frame that Amazon sold for approximately $150 starting in October. The Samsung SPF-85H is no longer available on Amazon.com. "We have recently learned that Samsung has issued an alert. ... Our records indicate that you have purchased one of the digital photo frames through the Amazon.com website and are therefore affected by this alert," said Amazon in the note. Samsung released its advisory (download PDF) on Nov. 27 and listed five photo frame models as being affected: SPF-75H, SPF-76H, SPF-85H, SPF-85P and SPF-105P.
(ARA) - Your PC isn't very old, but it sure is slow - so slow that you would love to replace it with something new and speedy. But a new computer just isn't in the budget in this tough economy. The good news is that you can make your PC run faster, without upgrading or replacing it. All you need to do is give it a tune up. The hard disk is the slowest part of your computer - as much as thousands of times slower than other types of storage, like memory. And your PC's hard disk slows down over time as files become fragmented. Here are some tune-up tips you can do yourself: * Free up disk space. Start easy by emptying out your recycle bin. Then move on to deleting installed programs you don't use. If you're feeling more ambitious, remove Windows temporary files and optional extras that you don't use. The extra disk space will help to improve your computer's performance. * Repair errors. Hard disks can develop bad sectors which prevent your PC from saving information in organized files on the disk. The information will be pushed somewhere else outside of the bad sector, causing the computer to slow down as it searches for files. * Remove spyware. Spyware not only slows your PC down, but also puts your personal identity at risk. Spyware can track the Web sites you visit and collect personal information without your knowledge. There are many free anti-spyware programs available online.
Be a lazy Google millionaire. Earn $64 an hour from home. Get 250 business cards free. These are just some of the 80-plus junk e-mail messages, known as spam, that are pouring into John Gembecki's inbox on a daily basis since he started looking for a job in July. Gembecki is sure that every piece of spam is a result of the resumes he put on Monster.com and other employment sites because he created a Gmail account for his job search that he doesn't use for anything else. Though Gembecki did find a new job through CareerBuilder in just five weeks, the experience of wading through the reams of spam while hoping one was from a genuine employer has him wary about job Web sites. Unlike spam that references Viagra or deposed Nigerian princes, job-related spam exploits neither lust nor greed but the simple desire to find gainful employment.
Cyber crooks are once again blasting out fake holiday e-greeting cards in a bid their special kind of cheer. Also, there are signs that computer viruses may again be piggybacking on digital photo frames and other data storage devices that make popular holiday gifts. E-greeting scams are hardly new, but they tend to increase around major holidays, probably because consumers are more receptive to opening them at these times and because more people are home in front of their computers. Most of these e-greeting scams try to foist malicious software by claiming the recipient needs to install some application in order to view the card, such as Adobe's Flash Player. Almost invariably, the downloaded program isn't a legitimate add-on, but malware. According to Symantec, some of the fake e-card domains being used in this scam include (please don't visit any of these sites): * [http://]itsfatherchristmas.com * [http://]bestchristmascard.com * [http://]whitewhitechristmas.com * [http://]christmaslightsnow.com * [http://]freechristmasworld.com
Consumers continue to be inundated by spam purportedly from the FBI. As with previous spam attacks, the latest versions use the names of several high ranking executives within the FBI and even the IC3 to attempt to defraud consumers. Many of the spam e-mails currently in circulation claim to be an "official order" from the FBI's Anti-Terrorist and Monetary Crimes Division, from an alleged FBI unit in Nigeria, confirm an inheritance or contain a lottery notification, all informing recipients they have been named the beneficiary of millions of dollars. To claim the large sum, recipients are instructed to furnish their personally identifiable information (PII) and are often threatened with some type of penalty, such as prosecution, if they fail to do so. Specific PII information requested includes, but is not limited to, the recipient's name, banking information, telephone number and a copy of their passport. The spam e-mail allegedly from the IC3 states that the recipient has extorted money and will be given a limited amount of time to refund the money or face prosecution. Do not respond. These e-mails are a hoax. The FBI does not send unsolicited e-mails of this nature. FBI executives are briefed on numerous investigations but do not personally contact consumers regarding such matters.
