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Phishing

Officials preparing for cyber attacks, scams as Olympics nears

Dan Kaplan May 24, 2012

With the London Olympics set to kick off in July, U.S. security officials are warning about the event being a target for cyber criminals.

Cyber crime ringleader sentenced to five years in prison

Marcos Colon May 18, 2012

One of the masterminds behind the infamous "Operation Phish Phry" was sentenced by a district judge to five years in prison for her part in the international ring.

Cyber crime as a Market

Stephen Cobb, security evangelist at ESET May 09, 2012

Information security experts often talk about the costs of cybercrime to businesses, but a new report from Russia quantifies how much criminals make in the "cybercrime market."

CeCOS VI: The Counter eCrime Operations Summit

David Harley, ESET senior research fellow April 17, 2012

CeCOS VI: The Counter eCrime Operations Summit: A cybercrime conference I can't get to, but heartily recommend

Flight check-in emails lead to Zeus infection

Marcos Colon April 03, 2012

Cyber criminals have cloaked spam to resemble US Airways check-in emails in phishing attempts that lead to Zeus trojan infections.

Stratfor subscribers targeted by malware-ridden emails

Dan Kaplan February 14, 2012

A letter addressed to the stolen email addresses of Stratfor customers claims to be a helpful reminder of malware scams, but is actually bait to spread the Zbot trojan.

Phishing email leads to Denver area health care breach

Dan Kaplan February 07, 2012

Hackers may have accessed the personal health data belonging to patients of Denver area-based Metro Community Provider Network, a nonprofit health care provider for low-income individuals and families.

Facebook sues Adscend Media for malware and spam

Stephen Lawton January 30, 2012

Facebook and the state of Washington have filed separate lawsuits against Adscend Media, alleging the company was responsible for spreading malware and for stealing personal information from Facebook users.

Zappos breach affects 24M, opens door for more attacks

Greg Masters January 16, 2012

Hackers breached a server belonging to online retailer Zappos and made off with the personal information of 24 million customers, though no credit card numbers were involved.

Spam with QR code targets mobile users

Greg Masters January 11, 2012

Researchers have revealed a new type of spam campaign that appears to be a test run to find out how mobile users will respond to social engineering attempts on their smartphones and tablets.

Retrophitted Retrophish

David Harley, ESET senior research fellow • January 11, 2012

Malware that uses US-CERT and the Anti-Phishing Working Group to "legitimize" itself.

US-CERT warns about spoofed US-CERT phishes

Dan Kaplan January 10, 2012

Phishers are spoofing email addresses belonging to US-CERT, an arm of the Department of Homeland Security that coordinates information sharing related to cyber threats, to trick users into installing malware.

Stratfor subscribers receive phony emails

Dan Kaplan January 06, 2012

Some Stratfor subscribers received an email on Friday that claimed to come from the breached company's CEO, but actually was designed to publicize the hack and have some fun at the expense of the recipients.

Yahoo wins $610M spam judgment

Greg Masters December 12, 2011

Digital media company Yahoo has ended a three-year legal battle against a team of spammers, winning a default judgment of $610 million.

Amazon users targeted with new phishing attack

Angela Moscaritolo December 05, 2011

Attackers have been widely spamming messages - purportedly sent from Amazon - claiming users' accounts are about to be deactivated.

Cyber Monday scam emails hit inboxes

Angela Moscaritolo November 28, 2011

Spammers have begun trying to capitalize on the Cyber Monday buying frenzy.

Cyber Monday to bring increase in online threats

Angela Moscaritolo November 23, 2011

Cyber Monday, the digital equivalent of the brick-and-mortar world's Black Friday, is one of the busiest online shopping days of the year, and typically marks the beginning of a month-long period of increased online threats.

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.

Phishing, the Slim Jim of cybercrime

Stephen Cobb, security evangelist at ESET • November 03, 2011

Phishing is all grown up and operated on a large-scale by well-funded cybercriminals who use botnets to harvest personal data and sell it on the black market.

Phishers aiming for Apple IDs, passwords

Angela Moscaritolo October 31, 2011

Spam that seemingly emanates from Apple is making the rounds with the aim of tricking users into handing over their IDs and passwords, researchers at anti-virus firm Trend Micro said in a blog post Monday.

Banker trade group warns of phishing uptick

Angela Moscaritolo October 27, 2011

Cybercriminals typically ramp up their phishing efforts during the holiday season and following natural disasters, according to the American Bankers Association.

Microsoft drops botnet suit, asks former defendant for help

Dan Kaplan October 26, 2011

Microsoft has dropped a complaint against a Czech Republic man and his company in relation to their alleged involvement in controlling a recently dismantled botnet.

Podcast: Automating social engineering

Dan Kaplan October 21, 2011

The process of delivering targeted attacks to end-users has gotten easier for attackers thanks to automated social engineering, in which adversaries can write tools that scour the web for personal data to include in their emails to increase their believability. The goal, of course, is to design messages that people are more likely to click on and, as a result, install malware on their machines or divulge personal information. In this podcast, Matias Brutti, a security consultant at security services firm IOActive, explains what the automation of social engineering means for organizations and how they can fight back.

Cloud: A risk/reward proposition

October 03, 2011

Assessing what level of risk is acceptable to one's business is key to any move to the cloud, says Siobhan Byron, president of Forsythe Technology Canada.

Official: FBI investigating 400 bank account takeovers

Dan Kaplan September 19, 2011

Despite fresh guidance and quicker fraud detection, the FBI actively is investigating more than 400 cases of corporate bank account takeovers, an official told federal lawmakers last week. Gordon Snow, the FBI's assistant director of the cyber division, told a House Financial Services subcommittee that these cases, in which criminals initiate unauthorized Automated Clearing House and wire transfers from seized accounts belonging to mostly small and midsize businesses, have resulted in the attempted theft of more than $225 million and actual losses of around $85 million. In his remarks, Snow also discussed risks related to ATM skimming, mobile banking and supply chain compromise.

Cybercrime costs $388B annually, report says

Angela Moscaritolo September 07, 2011

The cost of digital crimes now rivals the illegal drug trade, according to a new report from Symantec.

The new breed of attackers

Hugh Thompson, RSA Conference program committee chairman. September 01, 2011

The time is ripe for open dialogue around teaching trust, says RSA Conference's Hugh Thompson.

Enabling a mobile workforce

Patrick Harding, CTO, Ping Identity September 01, 2011

Suddenly, corporations can no longer ignore next-generation smartphones and tablets.

Researchers study actual file used in RSA SecurID breach

Angela Moscaritolo August 26, 2011

Researchers have discovered that the email containing the malicious file used to breach RSA contained just two sentences: "I forward this file to you for review. Please open and view it."

Web browsers offer more protection than you may think

Sam Alapati, senior technical director, Miro Consulting August 02, 2011

Browser security has come a long way in recent years, and utilizing certain features can help stave off attacks. Our author calls out three browsers he thinks stands above the rest in protecting you against threats and safeguarding your privacy.