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User discovers phished Hotmail, MSN credentials

Angela Moscaritolo November 15, 2011

A Reddit user with the handle "Roddds" found the credentials of 47,000 webmail users after investigating a phishing message.

Man charged with hacking Hoboken, N.J. mayor's email

Angela Moscaritolo November 10, 2011

Patrick Ricciardi, 45, allegedly abused his access as an information systems specialist to spy on official emails meant for Hoboken, N.J. Mayor Dawn Zimmer.

Best Email Content Management & Best Email Security

Staff Report November 08, 2011

Throughout the day, SC Magazine will be announcing the finalists from each of its 32 award categories, covering the Reader Trust, Professional and Excellence sections.

Researcher finds way to send executable file on Facebook

Dan Kaplan October 28, 2011

Researchers have discovered a way to evade Facebook security controls to deliver a message that could come outfitted with a malicious attachment.

Crooks opt for spear phishing despite higher upfront cost

Dan Kaplan June 30, 2011

Cybercriminals are scrapping widespread malicious email campaigns for more targeted attacks, according to a new Cisco report.

New Zeus emails cloaked as Fed, IRS messages

Dan Kaplan June 22, 2011

Small and midsize organizations may want to take note: There is a particularly large Zeus spam campaign making the rounds.

Google breaks up Gmail spying campaign

Dan Kaplan June 01, 2011

Google has identified and disrupted a campaign operating out of eastern China meant to hijack and monitor the Gmail accounts belonging to hundreds of users, the technology giant revealed Wednesday.

Personal data of "X-Factor" hopefuls exposed

Angela Moscaritolo May 04, 2011

Hackers late last week broke into Fox Broadcasting Company's website, Fox.com, and accessed personal information of tens of thousands of individuals who applied to appear on "The X Factor."

Experts warn of attacks as more Epsilon victims emerge

Angela Moscaritolo April 06, 2011

Fallout continues, and new corporate victims come to light after the massive breach of an email marketing services provider.

A slew of banks, retailers affected by Epsilon email breach

Angela Moscaritolo April 04, 2011

A growing list of companies, including Capital One, U.S. Bank, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, are notifying customers that their email addresses were stolen by hackers.

Earthquake and tsunami breed web scams, malware

Dan Kaplan March 11, 2011

The 8.9-magnitude earthquake and deadly tsunami in Japan also has triggered a tidal wave of cybercrime, say experts.

California lawmaker tries again with data breach bill

Dan Kaplan January 25, 2011

A California lawmaker has reintroduced a bill that would update the state's pioneering data breach notification law, SB-1386, to include additional requirements for organizations that lose sensitive data.

Palin hacker begins time in prison, not halfway house

Dan Kaplan January 14, 2011

The student convicted of hacking into the Yahoo email account of Sarah Palin while she was the Republican candidate for vice president has begun serving a prison term.

Spam, after a holiday hiatus, returns in earnest

Angela Moscaritolo January 10, 2011

The Rustock botnet, dubbed the biggest source of global spam, has resumed activity after a two-week break, according to security researchers at Symantec.

Google quickly shores up Gmail spam flaw

Angela Moscaritolo November 22, 2010

Google has fixed what is being described as a serious security flaw that allowed a hacker to harvest Gmail addresses and send spam from the search giant's servers.

Latest Zeus attack propagated via fake iTunes receipt

Angela Moscaritolo October 05, 2010

Attackers are sending out spam messages spoofing an iTunes store receipt in an attempt to lead users to the insidious data-stealing trojan Zeus.

Email worm traced back to cyber-jihad group

Dan Kaplan September 13, 2010

The person responsible for the "Here you have" email worm, which wreaked havoc last week on businesses across the United States, may be part of a cyber-jihad group wanting to hack into U.S. Army IT systems.

Major U.S. organizations hit by 'Here you have' email worm

Angela Moscaritolo September 10, 2010

A number of major U.S. major organizations were affected by a rapidly spreading email worm that hit inboxes worldwide beginning Thursday.

Mass email worm found spreading

Dan Kaplan September 09, 2010

Never mind the advanced persistent threat. A new mass-mailing worm that may conjure up images of Nimda and Code Red appears to be threatening email infrastructures.

Adobe grapples with new Reader, Acrobat zero-day

Dan Kaplan September 08, 2010

Adobe on Wednesday confirmed a dangerous Reader and Acrobat vulnerability, which is being exploited in the wild.

Nigerian man imprisoned on false promise of fortune

Dan Kaplan September 03, 2010

A Nigerian man was sentenced Friday to nearly 13 years in prison for helping to mastermind an "advance-fee" scheme built on the promise of riches.

Spam volume plunges in wake of Pushdo takedown

Dan Kaplan August 27, 2010

Efforts by a security company have resulted in the crippling of the notorious Pushdo, or Cutwail, botnet infrastructure.

Microsoft plans to beef up security of Hotmail

Angela Moscaritolo May 21, 2010

Much like Google has done with Gmail, Microsoft is set to improve the security of Hotmail with full-session SSL encryption and a number of other enhancements.

AutoRun worms most common malware during Q1 2010

Angela Moscaritolo May 18, 2010

Portable storage device threats, such as AutoRun worms, were the most prevalent type of malware worldwide during the first quarter of the year, according to a McAfee report issued Tuesday.

"Avalanche" phishing slowing, but was all the 2009 rage

Dan Kaplan May 12, 2010

A single crime syndicate dominated the phishing scene last year, but the outfit appears to be taking quieter breaths in 2010, a new report concludes.

Microsoft pushes fixes for two bugs in light Patch Tuesday

Dan Kaplan May 11, 2010

Microsoft distributed two patches on Tuesday for issues in Windows and Office, but customers must wait until at least next month for a SharePoint security fix.

California ISP wins $2.6M judgment against spammers

Dan Kaplan May 07, 2010

A small California ISP this week was awarded nearly $2.6 million stemming from a lawsuit filed against a company accused of delivering nearly 25,000 spam messages.

Storm Worm making comeback with new spam run

Dan Kaplan April 28, 2010

Researchers at CA say they have detected a new variant of the Storm Worm, the infamous botnet best known for its spam-producing abilities, but which was effectively killed off more than a year ago.

Botnet disconnections have little impact on spam volume

Angela Moscaritolo April 14, 2010

Despite the takedown of a number of prolific botnets, spam remains strong, according to a report issued Wednesday by email security provider Google Postini.

Easter-related spam and malware targets the unwitting

Dan Kaplan April 02, 2010

Between now and Sunday, users should be careful not to fall for email ruses capitalizing on the Easter holiday, security firms are warning.

Scammers capitalizing on tax season to spread Zeus

Angela Moscaritolo March 26, 2010

Researchers have discovered a new tax-related spam campaign propagating the data-stealing trojan Zeus.

Faux Facebook emails use password reset ploy

Dan Kaplan March 18, 2010

Scammers are trying to infect the computers of Facebook users by claiming their password has been reset and that a replacement credential is contained in an attachment.

Web fraud losses more than double in 2009, says report

Dan Kaplan March 15, 2010

Losses related to cybercrime more than doubled from 2008 to last year, according to a report from the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3)

Waledac demise imminent after shutdown of domains

Dan Kaplan February 25, 2010

The death knell for Waledac may be near after a federal judge ordered the takedown of domains being used by the prolific botnet, Microsoft announced Thursday.

Experts warn of fake Valentine's Day e-cards

Angela Moscaritolo February 12, 2010

Cybercriminals will no doubt, begin sending out emails over the next few days that look like Valentine's Day greeting cards, which contain a malicious link or attachment.

Mass injection web hacks yield to targeted attacks

Angela Moscaritolo February 05, 2010

During the second half of 2009, attackers shifted their strategy away from mass-injection campaigns and instead focused on launching targeted attacks to infect high-profile websites, Websense found in a new report.

Crooks try to romance users with Valentine's Day spam

Dan Kaplan February 01, 2010

Spammers are on the Valentine's Day prowl already, and more ploys are expected, researchers at Trend Micro said Monday.

Waldec spreading through fake New Year's e-cards

Angela Moscaritolo December 31, 2009

The Waledac botnet is spreading spam messages that contain the subject line "Happy New Year 2010" and provide a link for what the email claims to be a New Year's greeting card.

Malicious cards, Brittany Murphy poisoned search hit web

Dan Kaplan December 21, 2009

Security researchers on Monday began warning internet users of a pair of new threats whose goal is to install malware on the PCs of unwitting users.

Law, PR firms targeted

Angela Moscaritolo November 18, 2009

The FBI warned Tuesday of an increase in targeted phishing emails containing malicious attachments or links that are being sent to law and public relations firms. If executed, the malicious payload used in the attack attempts to download and execute the file 'srhost.exe' from the domain 'http://d.ueopen.com,' the agency said in an alert. Any network traffic associated with the domain 'ueopen.com' should indicate a network is compromised. — AM

Spam volume reaches new all-time high at 92 percent

Angela Moscaritolo November 03, 2009

During the third quarter of the year, spam accounted for 92 percent of all email on average, which breaks the previous record-high volume set during the second quarter of 2009.

Facebook scam email tries to spread Zeus bank trojan

Dan Kaplan October 29, 2009

Two email ruses claiming to come from Facebook actually attempt to load a trojan on victim PCs.

Zeus phishing wave targets Outlook Web Access users

Dan Kaplan October 15, 2009

The masterminds behind the Zeus trojan are continuing efforts to target corporate users with the hope of gaining access to business bank accounts.

Comcast to alert customers if machines are botted

Dan Kaplan October 12, 2009

Comcast's new move to alert customers if their machines are infected with a bot could prompt ISPs to drop their traditional laissez-faire approach to cyberprotection, according to experts.

FBI nets nearly 100 alleged U.S., Egyptian phishers

Dan Kaplan October 08, 2009

The FBI bust of a massive phishing ring, announced Wednesday, marked the first time U.S. and Egyptian authorities have ever worked together on a cybercrime case.

Yahoo, Gmail passwords also phished in far-reaching scam

Dan Kaplan October 06, 2009

Microsoft's Live Hotmail was not the only target in what appears to be a widespread phishing ploy targeting unsuspecting webmail users.

Facebook cuts off accounts spreading rogue anti-virus

Dan Kaplan October 02, 2009

On the same day that the Internet Crime Complaint Center issued an alert on the ongoing dangers of social networking fraud, a computer security researcher reported on a new Facebook threat in which scores of fake member profiles were attempting to push rogue anti-virus programs.

Number of phishing URLs at all-time high

Angela Moscaritolo September 28, 2009

More than 150,000 phishing URLs were established during Q2 of 2009, surpassing previous record-high levels during the first quarter of 2007.

Gmail outage prompts Google contrition

Angela Moscaritolo September 24, 2009

Google has apologized after an issue with Google Contacts caused disruption of its Gmail web-based email service on Thursday.

Rampant brute-force attack against Yahoo Mail

Angela Moscaritolo September 21, 2009

Attackers are exploiting a web service application to crack into Yahoo email accounts.

Cutwail botnet authors behind wave of malicious IRS spam

Dan Kaplan September 09, 2009

Malware-laden emails, at a rate of 90,000 per hour, are trying to dupe recipients into believing they have been implicated in defrauding the IRS.

Spammers seeking "volunteers" to DDoS White House

Angela Moscaritolo August 19, 2009

Cybercriminals have begun to capitalize on the vehement debate in the country over health care reform, sending spam targeted at opponents of President Obama.

Federal court spurns anti-spammer

Chuck Miller August 10, 2009

A federal appeals court has ruled that a Washington resident cannot sue an email marketing firm over spam he received.

Group of ISPs issue tips for dealing with bots

Angela Moscaritolo August 07, 2009

One industry group is trying to help network operators help respond to bot infections.

Twitter hack spurs cloud computing security debate

Dan Kaplan July 16, 2009

Is cloud computing or Twitter to blame for Wednesday's revelation that a hacker was able to access sensitive company communications?

Latest upgrade to iPhone includes 46 security fixes

Greg Masters June 18, 2009

Apple on Wednesday released the long-anticipated upgrade to its iPhone operating system.

Google responds to call for more security

Chuck Miller June 17, 2009

In reaction to a letter from 37 respected names in the computer security field, Google is considering tighter security of its web applications.

Iran election protesters use Twitter to recruit hackers

Angela Moscaritolo June 15, 2009

Political unrest resulting from the presidential election in Iran has escalated to a cyberwar between the Iranian government and activists, according to security experts monitoring the situation.

Air France crash prompts spam, malware outbreak

Dan Kaplan June 12, 2009

As expected, spammers and malware writers are trying to cash in on the Air France disaster.

Army ends ban on Facebook, Flickr, other social media sites

Angela Moscaritolo June 11, 2009

Updated: Certain U.S. Army bases that formerly blocked access to Web 2.0 sites now permit users to surf to sites such as Facebook and Flickr.

Pricewert shutdown brought only short-lived drop in spam

Angela Moscaritolo June 10, 2009

Any spam drop that resulted after the takedown of a rogue internet service provider last week was short-lived, researchers said Tuesday.

The many morphs of a phishing/malware scam

Angela Moscaritolo June 03, 2009

A new attack targeting Outlook users has morphed from trying to retrieve login credentials to attempting to infect users with fake anti-virus products.

Bank of America certificate scam propagating Waledac, Virut

Angela Moscaritolo June 02, 2009

A new spam campaign disguised as a Bank of America email telling users they need to update their digital certificate is attempting to lure users into installing the Waledac worm.

Phishers continue to wage war on Facebook, Twitter

Dan Kaplan May 22, 2009

Social networking sites are all the rage within phishing circles these days.

Social Security Administration spoofed in phishing scam

Angela Moscaritolo May 11, 2009

Scammers have spoofed the Social Security Administration's website in a phishing scam targeted at those who will be receiving an economic recovery payment this month.

Mac worm poses little risk, represents cross-platform innovation

Angela Moscaritolo May 05, 2009

A recently discovered Macintosh worm, known as OSX/Tored.A, remains a low-risk threat but is an indication that malware authors are not turning a blind eye to the Apple platform, researchers said Tuesday.

Swine flu spam leveling off, but attacks continue

Dan Kaplan May 01, 2009

As reports of swine flu infections grow across the world, spammers and malware purveyors continue to try to cash in.

Facebook neutralizes phishing attack

Dan Kaplan April 30, 2009

Fraudsters, using hijacked Facebook accounts, tried to lure users of the social networking site into divulging their login credentials.

Swine flu cases cause outbreak of fraud on internet

Dan Kaplan April 27, 2009

Reports of swine flu in Mexico and the United States has caused an outbreak of its own on the internet, with reports of a precipitous rise in spam and rogue internet sites being created to reference the hot news item.

Microsoft Forefront now in the clouds

Angela Moscaritolo April 16, 2009

Microsoft has extended its Forefront brand and is now putting messaging security into the cloud.

Phishing increased 40 percent in 2008

Angela Moscaritolo April 15, 2009

The percentage of people losing money to phishing attacks is higher than ever -- five million consumers in the United States fell victim during 2008, an increase of 40 percent over 2007, according to a new report from Gartner.

Spammers capitalize on Italy earthquake

Chuck Miller April 09, 2009

As the death toll from the earthquake in central Italy grows, spammers have moved to capitalize on the catastrophe.

Tax scam season has arrived

Angela Moscaritolo April 09, 2009

With the U.S. tax filing deadline looming, cybercriminals are putting fraud efforts into high gear with tax-related phishing emails and websites designed to lure users into handing over their personal information, security firms are warning.

Microsoft and Facebook battle Koobface together

Angela Moscaritolo April 06, 2009

With Microsoft's assistance, Facebook has made great strides in fighting Koobface, a worm that has been wreaking havoc on social networking sites since last May.

"Nigerian scam" fraudsters go to jail

Chuck Miller April 03, 2009

After pleading guilty last year, two Nigerians and a French citizen were sentenced by a New York federal judge to jail Thursday for scamming $1.2 million through email.

GhostNet spy network phishes international victims

Chuck Miller March 30, 2009

The recently uncovered cyberespionage network named GhostNet made use of phishing malware to attack the nearly 1,300 computers that are said to have been compromised by servers traced to China.

Fatal attraction: Latest "delivery notice" trojan spews forth

Greg Masters March 27, 2009

A new torrent of spam, disguised as a message from package carrier DHL, is making its way into inboxes.

Privacy group urges FTC to investigate Google's cloud services

Angela Moscaritolo March 18, 2009

The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a privacy advocacy group, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday urging an investigation of Google's cloud computing services to determine the adequacy of its privacy and security safeguards.

Spam attacks focus on victims' economic gloom

Chuck Miller March 17, 2009

The economy remains the main topic spammers focus on to lure users into opening emails with malicious links.

New Waledac spam falsely warns of bomb blasts

Dan Kaplan March 16, 2009

Security companies warned Monday of a new malware campaign in which the Waledac botnet creators are distributing emails that falsely claim the recipient's city has been the site of a bomb blast.

InfoSec: 23 percent of users fall for spear phishing

Angela Moscaritolo March 09, 2009

A new study found that 23 percent of people worldwide will fall for spear phishing attacks, but others said the number is more like 70 percent.

Proof of concept released for Google Gmail CSRF flaw

Angela Moscaritolo March 04, 2009

A vulnerability in Google's Gmail that enables cross-site request forgery (CSRF) attacks has been recognized since 2007, but a proof-of-concept (PoC) was just released Tuesday.

UPS trojan strikes again

Chuck Miller March 03, 2009

A trojan masquerading as an email notice from UPS, the delivery service, tries to dupe users into clicking on an enclosure to download malware. The trick is not new, but seems to be reemerging.

Spoofed Delta Airlines emails contain trojan

Angela Moscaritolo February 27, 2009

Emails spoofed to look like they are coming from Delta Airlines to confirm a ticket purchase are attempting to infect users with a trojan.

Waledac malware adds geolocation

Angela Moscaritolo February 26, 2009

A new variant of the Waledac malware campaign has been unleashed, taking advantage of the economic crisis by spoofing a legitimate coupon website and using IP address geolocation to appear to offer coupons for local stores.

Google Talk users hit by phishers

Chuck Miller February 25, 2009

Soon after Google apologized for a Gmail outage this week, it was hit by a phishing attack spreading through its instant messenger platform.

Waledac worm sends no love to Valentine's Day spam victims

Angela Moscaritolo February 09, 2009

Cybercriminals behind the Waledac botnet are trying to capture more victims by using Valentine's Day-themed exploits, researchers from McAfee Avert Labs warned Monday.

Spam grows as senders use slicker ways to trick users

Angela Moscaritolo January 26, 2009

The amount of spam is nearing pre-McColo numbers, and junk mailers are using crafty new methods to infect computers, two spam reports released on Monday conclude.

With economy in tailspin, Monster discloses major breach

Dan Kaplan January 26, 2009

Monster.com is advising users to change their passwords -- and experts are warning of phishing scams on the horizon -- after the the job site suffered another breach.

New spam, phishing attacks center on Obama inauguration

Dan Kaplan January 15, 2009

Despite spam levels being far less than they were prior to the shutdown of a rogue ISP in November, security experts are warning of an influx of new attacks related to Tuesday's inauguration.

Spam poses as CNN story about Israel-Hamas conflict

Angela Moscaritolo January 09, 2009

News stories claiming to emanate from CNN again are being used to infect users with malware.

CA makes DLP play with acquisition of Orchestria

Dan Kaplan January 06, 2009

CA is the latest heavy hitter to acquire a data-loss prevention provider.

New worm claiming to be Christmas e-card makes rounds

Dan Kaplan December 25, 2008

A new email worm has replaced Storm in an attempt to trick end-users into opening malware-laden holiday e-cards.

International spammer fined $100,000 in New Zealand

Angela Moscaritolo December 22, 2008

Lance Atkinson, a member of the Herbal King spam gang, also faces additional charges in the United States.

Koobface worm variant circulating on Facebook

Angela Moscaritolo December 05, 2008

Spammed links leading to Koobface are likely to come from infected friends.

Apple advises Mac users to install anti-virus software

Dan Kaplan December 02, 2008

For possibly the first time ever, Apple is recommending Mac OS X users deploy anti-virus solutions -- but it remains unclear exactly why.

Spam climbing back up after botnets return online

Dan Kaplan November 26, 2008

Spam levels are returning to normal levels after a number of potent botnets have regained life.

Trial of accused Palin email hacker delayed until spring

Dan Kaplan November 25, 2008

The student charged with accessing former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's email will go to trial in April.

Facebook wins massive spam judgment

Dan Kaplan November 25, 2008

Facebook has won a $436 million judgment against a Canadian spammer and his company.

Spam levels remain down following McColo shutdown

Chuck Miller November 20, 2008

Though worldwide spam levels are still diminished in the wake of the McColo hosting-company shutdown, it may only be a matter of time before they come roaring back.