A botnet is a group of Internet-connected personal computers that have been infected by a malicious application, which allows a hacker to control the infected computers without alerting the computer owners. Since the infected PCs are controlled remotely by a single hacker, they are known as bots, robots, or zombies.
Consumers’ and small businesses’ lax security practices are giving scammers a base from which to launch attacks. Hackers use botnets to send spam and phishing emails, and to deliver viruses and other malware.
A botnet can consist of as few as ten PCs, or tens or hundreds of thousands. Millions of personal computers are potentially part of botnets.
Spain-based botnet Mariposa consisted of nearly 13 million zombie PCs in more than 190 countries. Further investigation determined that the botnet included PCs from more than half the Fortune 1000. This botnet’s sole purpose was to gather usernames and passwords for online banking and email services.
There are more than 70 varieties of malware, and while they all operate differently, most are designed to steal data. Mariposa’s technology was built on the “Butterfly” botnet kit, which is available online, and which does not require advanced hacking skills to operate.
The criminals in this operation ran the Mariposa botnet through anonymous virtual private network servers, making it difficult for law enforcement to trace back to the ringleaders.
The botnet problem persists. PCs that aren’t properly secured are at risk of being turned into zombies. Certain user behaviors can also invite attacks.
Surfing pornography websites increases your risk, as does frequenting gaming websites hosted in foreign countries. Downloading pirated content from P2P (peer-to-peer) websites is also risky. Remember, there is no honor among thieves.
Computers with old, outdated, or unsupported operating systems like Windows 95, 98, and 2000 are extremely vulnerable. Systems using old or outdated browsers such as IE 5, 6, or older versions of Firefox offer the path of least resistance.
To protect yourself, update your operating system to XP SP3 or Windows 7. Make sure to set your antivirus software to update automatically. Keep your critical security patches up-to-date by setting Windows Update to run automatically as well. And don’t engage in risky online activities that invite attacks.
https://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.png00Robert Sicilianohttps://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.pngRobert Siciliano2010-10-27 13:00:172010-10-27 13:00:17Botnets Turn Your PC into A Zombie
News of the Spain based Mariposa botnet reveals close to 13 million Zombie PCs in more than 190 countries affected. Further investigation determined half of the Fortune 1000 companies had PCs on the Bot. Three men have been arrested and a 4th is sought. The sole purpose of the Bot was to gather user names and passwords for banks and email services.
In an example of good vs. evil, whitehats vs. blackhats, representatives from US and Canadian based corporations, along with the FBI and Spain’s Guarda Civil took down the Boat after almost 10 months of investigations.
The Register reports “Mariposa (Spanish for butterfly) botnet malware spread through P2P networks, infected USB drives, and via MSN links that directed surfers to infected websites. Once infected by the Mariposa bot client, compromised machines would have various strains of malware installed (advanced keyloggers, banking trojans like Zeus, remote access trojans, etc) by the hackers to obtain greater control of infected systems”.
There are more than 70 types of malware, each doing something different, all in the name or stealing data. Mariposa’s technology was built on the “Butterfly” botnet kit, which is available online. This crimeware doesn’t require the criminal hacker to be highly skilled.
The criminals in this operation ran the Bot through anonymous virtual private network servers which made it impossible for law enforcement to trace back to the ringleaders. But in December of 2009, the Bot was dismantled by authorities who targeted the Bot’s control centers.
When this event unfolded, the Bots controller, a man dubbed “Netkairo” used his home PC to try and regain control of the Bot which revealed his internet protocol address, which is connected to his home address. This led to his capture. Nice job guys! This is a great plot for a movie! I want to be the dude who sees Netkairo’s IP address and busts him in a high speed chase after he flips his car. Just sayin’.
The problem of Botnets persist. There could be thousands out there with untold millions of Zombie PCs infected.
Becoming a Zombie and part of a Botnet happens to PCs that aren’t properly secured, coupled with user behavior that invites attacks.
If you are surfing porn all day or gaming on distant websites in foreign countries then you are at a higher risk.
Downloading files from P2P sites or seeking software cracks or pirated content is also risky. Remember, there is no honor among thieves.
Computers that are old and have outdated unsupported operating systems like Wind 95/98/2000 are extremely vulnerable.
Systems using older outdated browsers such as IE 5, 6 or older versions of Firefox are the path of least resistance.
THEREFORE:
Update your operating system to XP SP3 or Wind 7. Make sure to have automatic updates for anti-virus. Don’t engage in risky web-based behaviors.
AND:
Protect your identity.
1. Get acredit freeze and follow the steps for your particular state. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases, it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes your Social Security number useless to a potential identity thief.
I’m particularly irate about this. There’s criminal hackers, then there’s complete lowlife scumbag criminal hackers that hack children. InternetNews reports hackers took over sections of the PBS.org Web site earlier this week, installing malicious JavaScript code on the site’s “Curious George” page that infects visitors with a slew of software exploits.
For the uninitiated Curious George is a little happy go lucky bumbling monkey that continually gets himself in a pickle. His curiosity almost kills the monkey in every episode. Thank heavens for “”The Man in the Yellow Hat” which is Georges keeper and occasional life saver. A 41 year old male knows this when he waits 38 years to spawn.
Security research firm Purewire found that when visitors tried to log onto a fake authentication page they were served with an error page that took them to a malicious domain where the malware attempted to compromise users’ desktop applications.
So here you are in your kitchen making a bunt cake. You continually glance over in amazement that a 3 year old, who cant color in the lines or spell or count above 20 or even tie her own shoes, but she can navigate through an inexhaustible gaming and learning website of PBSKids. She whacks away at the keyboard from morning till evening. So intensely she hacks that when it’s time to pull her away from the computer to maybe, ahh eat? She takes a fit because you caught her mid Sid The Science Kid.
Little do you know that while little miss Mitnick was tap tap tapping away, some frigging cheesebag was trying to rifle all your data via a Clifford The Big Red Dog JavaScript reliant puzzle. Is there no shame? Boundaries? Apparently not.
It is not immediately evident how hackers compromised the site. They may have taken advantage of a known flaw and exploited a SQL injection vulnerability.
Kids playing were met with a pop-up message requesting authentication to enter a username and password during a game. “But DaDa, I don’t know my words yet”. From here, no matter what was entered they were directed to an error page that had malicious code. The JavaScript then loaded malware targeting flaws in Adobe Acrobat Reader, AOL Radio AmpX and SuperBuddy and Apple QuickTime. If the affected computer was not up to date with all their critical security patches then they got the bug.
Lax security practices by consumers are giving scammers a base from which to launch attacks. USA Today reports IBM Internet Security Systems blocked 5000 SQL injections every day in the first two quarters of 2008. By midyear, the number had grown to 25,000 a day. By late fall, attacks climbed to 450,000 daily.
The key to identity theft protection and preventing your computer from becoming a zombie is to engage in every update for every browser, software and media player that you use, keeping your operating system updated and use anti-virus software such as McAfee Total Protection.
And if your 3 year old happens to engage a toothless criminal hacker from the Eastern Bloc and you haven’t been up to date, make sure you have a backup plan if your data is compromised.
1. Protecting yourself from new account fraud requires more effort. You can attempt to protect your own identity, by getting yourself a credit freeze, or setting up your own fraud alerts. There are pros and cons to each.
· Triple Bureau Credit monitoring – monitors changes in your credit profiles from Equifax, Experian and TransUnion-includes email alerts of any suspicious changes
· Social Security Number and Public Record Monitoring – monitors the internet and public sources for fraudulent social security number, aliases, addresses, and phone numbers
· Junk Mail Reduction – stop identity thieves from using personal information from your mailbox, trash or even phone calls by eliminating junk mail, credit card offers and telemarketing calls
· Neighborhood Watch – includes a sex offender report, list of neighbors and a neighbor report on each of your neighbors
· Identity Theft Specialists – if in the unlikely event you become a victim of identity theft our Identity Theft experts will work with you to restore your identity and good name
· Credit Report Dispute – if you find errors on your credit report we will help you resolve them quickly
· Protection Insurance and Specialists -Identity Protect has you covered with up to $25,000 in Identity Theft Recovery Insurance and access to Personal Identity Theft Resolution Specialists.
https://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.png00Robert Sicilianohttps://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.pngRobert Siciliano2009-09-19 07:59:152009-09-19 07:59:15Criminal Hackers Get to Momma and DaDa Via Children
SearchSecurity.com reports that researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a reliable method to predict Social Security numbers using information from social networking sites, data brokers, voter registration lists, online white pages and the publicly available Social Security Administration’s Death Master File.
Originally, the first three numbers on a Social Security card represented the state in which a person had initially applied for their card. Numbers started in the northeast and moved westward. This meant that people on the east coast had the lowest numbers and those on the west coast had the highest. Before 1986, people were rarely assigned a Social Security number until age 14 or so, since the numbers were used for income tracking purposes.
The Carnegie Mellon researchers were able to guess the first five digits of a Social Security number on their first attempt for 44% of people born after 1988. For those in less populated states, the researches had a 90% success rate. In fewer than 1,000 attempts, the researchers could identify a complete Social Security number, “making SSNs akin to 3-digit financial PINs.” “Unless mitigating strategies are implemented, the predictability of SSNs exposes them to risks of identify theft on mass scales,” the researchers wrote.
While the researchers work is certainly an accomplishment, the potential to predict Social Security numbers is the least of our problems. Social Security numbers can be found in unprotected file cabinets and databases in thousands of government offices, corporations and educational institutions. Networks are like candy bars – Social Security numbers can be hacked from outside the hard chocolate shell or from the soft and chewy inside.
The problem stems from that fact that our existing system of identification is seriously outdated and needs to be significantly updated. We rely on nine digits as a single identifier, the key to the kingdom, despite the fact that our Social Security numbers have no physical relationship to who we actually are. We will only begin to solve this problem when we incorporate multiple levels of authentication into our identification process.
The process of true and thorough authentication begins with “identity proofing.” Identity proofing is a solution that begins to identify, authenticate and authorize. Consumers, merchants, government don’t just need authentication. We need a solution that ties all three of these components together.
Jeff Maynard, President and CEO of Biometric Signature ID, provides a simple answer to a complicated issue in four parts:
Identify – A user must be identified when compared to others in a database. We refer to this as a reference identity. A unique PIN, password or username is created and associated with your credential or profile.
Authenticate – Authentication is different than verification of identity. Authentication is the ability to verify the identity of an individual based specifically on their unique characteristics. This is known as a positive ID and is only possible when using a biometric. A biometric can be either static or dynamic (behavioral). A static biometric is anatomical or physiological, such as a face, a fingerprint or DNA. A dynamic biometric is behavioral, such as a signature gesture, voice, or possibly gait. This explains why, when authentication solutions incorporate multiple factors, at least two of the following identifiers are required: something you have, such as a token or card, something you are, meaning a biometric identifier, and something you know, meaning a pin or password.
Verify – Verification is used when the identity of a person cannot be definitely established. These technologies provide real time assessment of the validity of an asserted identity. When we can’t know who the individual is, we get as close as we can in order to verify their asserted identity. PINs, passwords, tokens, cards, IP addresses, behavioral based trend data and credit cards are often used for verification. These usually fall into the realm of something you have or something youknow.
Authorize – Once the user has passed the identification test and authenticated their identity, they can make a purchase or have some other action approved. Merchants would love to have a customer’s authenticated signature to indicate his or her approval of a credit card charge. This is authorization.
Effective identification results in accountability. It is being achieved in small segments of government and in the corporate world, but not systematically. Unfortunately, we are years away from full authentication.
1. Get a credit freeze. Go online now and search “credit freeze” or “security freeze” and go to consumersunion.org and follow the steps for the state you live in. This is an absolutely necessary tool to secure your credit. In most cases it prevents new accounts from being opened in your name. This makes the SSN useless to the thief.
2. Invest in Intelius Identity Theft Protection. While not all forms of identity theft can be prevented, you can effectively manage your personal identifying information by knowing what’s buzzing out there in regards to YOU.
Includes;
Personal Identity Profile – Find out if you’re at risk for identity theft with a detailed report of your identity information, including a current credit report, address history, aliases, and more.
24/7 Identity Monitoring and Alerts – Prevent identity theft with automatic monitoring that scans billions of public records daily and alerts you to suspicious activity.
Identity Recovery Assistance – Let professionals help you recover your identity if you ever become a victim of identity theft.
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discussing identity theft
What a week. Just when it starts to get boring, criminal hackers put on a spectacular show.
Criminal hackers continue to step up to the plate. Security professionals are fighting, and sometimes losing, the battle. Here’s one week’s worth of hacks:
Lexis Nexis, which owns ChoicePoint, an information broker I recently blogged about that was hacked in 2005, was just hacked again this week. On Friday, LexisNexis Group notified more than 32,000 people that their information may have been stolen and used in a credit card scam that involved stealing names, birth dates and Social Security numbers to set up fake credit card accounts. The cybercriminals broke into USPS mailboxes of businesses that contained LexisNexis database information, according to a breach notification letter sent by LexisNexis to its customers. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is investigating the matter. (Check your credit reports and examine your credit card statements carefully!)
CNET reports that hackers broke into FAA air traffic control systems, too. The hackers compromised an FAA public-facing computer and used it to gain access to personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers, for 48,000 current and former FAA employees. In a House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee testimony, it was stated, “FAA computer systems were hacked and, as the FAA increases its dependence on modern IP-based networks, the risk of the intentional disruption of commercial air traffic has increased.”
Computerworld reports that a hacker has threatened to expose health data and is demanding $10 million. Good for him, bad for the Virginia Department of Health Professions. The alleged ransom note posted on the Virginia DHP Prescription Monitoring Program site claimed that the hacker had backed up and encrypted more than 8 million patient records and 35 million prescriptions and then deleted the original data. “Unfortunately for Virginia, their backups seem to have gone missing, too. Uh oh,” posted the hacker. Holding data hostage is nothing new, but it is becoming increasingly common.
The Register reports that bot-herders have taken control of 12 million new IP addresses in the first quarter of 2009, a 50% increase since the last quarter of 2008, according to an Internet security report from McAfee. The infamous Conficker superworm has occupied all the headlines, and makes a big contribution to the overall figure of compromised Windows PCs, but other strains of malware collectively make a big contribution to this number. McAfee’s Threat Report notes that the US is home to 18% of botnet-infected computers.
While you can’t do much about others being irresponsible with your data, you can protect your identity, to a degree. Consider investing in identity theft protection and always keep your Internet security software updated.
It wasn’t long ago that most phishing emails were from a supposed Nigerian General Matumbi Mabumboo Watumboo. And you and I were flattered that we were the chosen ones to help the general transfer 35 million out of the country, because the Nigerian government was a bunch of jerks and wouldn’t let him keep the inheritance his wife had inherited from her deceased uncle Bamboo.
I distinctly remember getting a Nigerian phishing email in 1994-ish, back when I had an AOL account, and actually calling my bank and asking them what their thoughts were and what I should do. I mean 10% of $35 million, which the scammer offered in exchange for my help transferring the funds, was quite a fee for nominal work. All I had to do was front 10 grand in a wire transfer to make it all happen. My bank thought my Nigerian general and I were both nuts, and really didn’t know what I should do.
We didn’t have a lot of data on 419 scams or affinity fraud back then, or at least we didn’t have reliable access to that data, so I relied on what my mom told me early on: if it sounds too good to be true, it’s probably isn’t. So I deleted the email. Then I began to see more and more emails from others in the same quandary as the general.
Times have changed dramatically.
Today, with low cost delivery of email, billions of fraudulent emails are sent out every year. Any sales person knows it’s a numbers game. With billions of emails, you’ll eventually get someone to buy in.
Not too long ago, most spam emails came from a few legitimate servers. Once the government cracked down with the Can Spam Act, spam went underground. Most of today’s phishing emails originate from botnets. But what hasn’t changed much is the fraud victims’ sophistication, or lack thereof. The scammers are smarter, but the victims, not so much.
While phishing emails keep pouring in, their methods are changing rapidly. Posing as a Nigerian prince is still common, but not as effective. Even posing as a known bank or Paypal, asking to update an account for various reasons and requesting a potential victim’s user name and password is not as effective as it used to be.
Much of the phishing that occurs today is targeted “spear phishing,” in which the spammers are after a localized target. Recently, the usernames and passwords for 700 Comcast customers were posted on a document-sharing website, possibly as a result of a phishing attack. A Comcast employee with access to this type of data could easily have been tricked by a phisher posing as Comcast’s own IT staff, and foolishly released the customer information.
Going after a CEO is called “whaling.” Who better to take down than the biggest phish of them all? Most corporate websites offer plenty of data on the company officers and administrative contacts, which makes it relatively easy to create a sucker list. If scammers send an email blast to the entire company, eventually someone is likely to cough up enough data to allow the scammers to tap into the company’s intranet. Once the scammers have accessed the intranet, all further phishing emails will appear to be coming from a trusted, internal source.
Phishers even follow a similar editorial calendar as newspaper and magazine editors, coordinating their attacks around holidays and the change in seasons. They capitalize on significant events and natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina and most recently, swine flu. Since the swine flu outbreak, as much as 2% of all spamhas the words “swine flu” in the subject line. Numerous websites referencing swine flu in the address have also been registered.
Perhaps the most insidious type of phishing occurs when a recipient clicks a link, either in the body of an email or on the spoofed website linked in the email, and a download begins. That download is almost always a virus with a remote control component , which gives the phisher full access to the user’s data, including usernames and passwords, credit cards details, banking and Social Security numbers. Often, that same virus makes the victim’s PC part of a botnet.
How to avoid becoming a victim? Delete.
And of course update McAfee anti-virus and makes sure your PCs operating system has the latest critical security patches.
Robert Siciliano, identity theft speaker, discusses scam-baiters.
New reports confirm what we have been seeing in the news; organized criminals have upped the ante. Global web mobs are tearing up financial institutions’ networks.
We’ve known for some time that the long-haired, lowly, pot-smoking, havoc-reeking hacker, sitting alone in his mom’s basement, hacking for fun and fame is no more. He cut his hair and has now graduated into a full time professional criminal hacker, hacking for government secrets and financial gain.
His contacts are global, many from Russia and Eastern Europe, and they include brilliant teens, 20-somethings, all the way up to clinical psychologists who are organized, international cyber criminals.
Their sole motivation is money and information and they either find their way inside networks due to flaws in the applications, or they work on their victims psychologically and trick them into entering usernames and passwords, or clicking links.
According to a new Verizon report, a staggering 285 million records were compromised in 2008, which exceeds total losses for 2004-2007 combined. As many as 93% of the breaches were targeted hacks occurring at financial institutions.
Hackers made $10 million by hacking RBS Worldpay’s system, then loading up blank dummy cards and gift cards, and sending mules to use them at ATMs. The entire scheme took less than one day to pull off.
Many of these hacks occur due to flaws in the design of web applications. The criminals send out “sniffers,” which seek out those flaws. Once they are found, the attack begins. Malware is generally implanted on the network to extract usernames and passwords. Once the criminals have full access, they use the breached system as their own, storing the stolen data and eventually turning it into cash.
Meanwhile, criminal hackers have created approximately 1.6 million security threats, according to Symantec’s Internet Security Threat Report. 90% of these attacks were designed to steal personal information including names, addresses and credit card details. Almost every single American has had their data compromised in some way.
Unsuspecting computer users who do not update their PC’s basic security, including Windows updates, critical security patches or anti-virus definitions often become infected as part of a botnet. Botnets are used to execute many of the attacks on unprotected networks.
The same study shows computer users were hit by 349 billion spam and phishing messages. Many were tricked into giving up personal information. It is common sense not to plug data into an email that appears to be from your bank, asking to update your account. Attacks directed towards mobile phones are also rising. “Phexting” is when a text message phishes for personal data. Just hit delete.
Much of the data stolen is out of your hands. So invest in identity theft protection, and keep your McAfee Internet security software updated.
I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.
The internets number one virus Conficker, called home and sent its next set of updates to its global botnet.
Conficker’s botnet, which includes anywhere from 3 to 15 million PCs, has a peer to peer (P2P) feature that allows each PC on the network to talk to one another. Each PC has the ability to become the command server. This characteristic allows Conficker to fluidly update each PC on the network.
The latest variant shows that Conficker is updating via P2P, as opposed to pinging a website for its updates. This makes Conficker “self reliant.”
A botnet is a robot network of zombie computers under the control of a single leader. The concept behind a botnet is strength in numbers. Botnets can attack websites, send spam, and log data, which can lead to data breaches, credit card fraud and identity theft, and ultimately clog a network until it shuts down.
CNET reports that researchers have observed Conficker making its first update, which they believe to be a keystroke logger, a form of spyware designed to log usernames and passwords. This new update also tells the zombies to seek other PCs that have not been patched with Microsoft’s update. The worm also pings websites including MySpace.com, MSN.com, eBay.com, CNN.com and AOL.com in order to determine whether that PC has Internet access.
The Register reports that Conficker is now pinging what’s known as a Waledac domain, which contacts a new server if the current one is blacklisted by ISPs for spamming. This allows the virus to download more updates.
In 2007 and 2008, the Storm Worm was thought to have infected over 50 million PCs. Waledac is using the same technology as the Storm Worm,which means two things. First, this may get ugly fast. And second, whoever is controlling Waledac must be the same criminal hackers that built Storm Worm.
All this means that Conficker is about as dangerous as a virus can be, with the best of the best technologies, both old and new. While the virus has yet to strike, it is definitely gearing up.
To protect yourself, be sure you have updated Internet security software, and consider an identity theft protection service.
I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information
https://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.png00Robert Sicilianohttps://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.pngRobert Siciliano2009-04-09 14:30:162009-04-09 14:30:16Conficker flexes muscles, phones home
Conficker’s rise and fall and the passing activity of the worm on April 1st has allowed researchers and anti-virus companies to better understand the virus and its impact. While April Fools was supposed to be the day of reckoning for Conficker, it wasn’t and still isn’t a joke.
Viruses often come with a trigger date, as pointed out by CNET. And while many fail to meet the media hype, they still can and often do cause millions or billions in damage.
The media does what it does and reports on the news. While they or even I may not always get the facts straight, the impetus is still there.
In a “Conficker Postmortem,” CNET examines the media frenzy and points to a humorous spoof that Wired ran, a fake live blog from the “Conficker Worm War Room.” CNET also points out that, “The New York Times called it an ‘unthinkable disaster’ in the making. CBS’s 60Minutes said the worm could ‘disrupt the entire internet,’ and The Guardian warned that it might be a ‘deadly threat’.”
The positive result of this media hype is that it brings attention to an ongoing problem for an audience that never considered themselves vulnerable to these issues. In my world, even Facebook friends and Twitter followers who had never reacted to previous posts on a plethoraof IT and personal security issues are finally starting to ask the right questions.
“Your mom’s virus,” as we knew it, has become a part of popular culture. In a sense, this is a good thing, because it’s now water cooler talk with the same level of buzz as Britney Spears going nutty. We in the security community couldn’t ask for more and better attention, that may potentially enlist an army of security moms. Thank you, Conficker!
Still, Conficker is the most sophisticated virus to date and is still waiting to strike, which can very well lead to major data breaches and identity theft. As the virus continues to call home for the yet to be delivered update, researchers have determined an estimated 3.5 to 4 million PCs are infected on the Conficker botnet, which is the most powerful and dangerous aspect of Conficker.
Overall totals of infected computers may still be between 10 and 15 million. Many of those have a dormant virus that has the capability to wreak havoc, or that may have already been rendered impotent by anti-virus providers and IT administrators who have taken advantage of numerous solutions by McAfee and others.
What the public needs to understand is this infection is anything but over. The virus phones home every day looking for its next set of updates, which could still have catastrophic results if the virus ever reaches its full potential.
The risk here is that a virus of this kind has technology that can disable anti-virus software and that prevents access to numerous websites which provide automatic security updates, including Windows.
Today, Brian Krebs from the Washington Postpoints out the similarity’s to Y2K potential bug, just as I did last week. “In one sense, the response to Conficker could be compared to that of Y2K: A great deal of smart people threw a whole lot of resources and energy at a fairly complex problem and managed to turn a potentially very ugly situation into a relative non-event.”
The attention that Conficker brought upon itself has rallied security professionals to be on their highest guard, which is exactly where they should be.
I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out Uniball.com for more information.
Every day new reports of another flaw and another breach. Today we learn attacks rise 33 percent. I’m not surprised.
Credit card details of 19,000 Brits have been found on a cached Google page, where they had been accidentally published by fraudsters. Silly criminal hackers need to tighten up their data security controls and not publish sensitive data like that!
Reuters reports – Fraud on the Internet reported to U.S. authorities increased by 33 percent last year, rising for the first time in three years, and is surging this year as the recession deepens, federal authorities said.
Internet fraud losses reported in the United States reached a record high $264.6 million in 2008, according to a report released on Monday from the Internet Fraud Complaint Center, run by the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center.
CNBC reports Online scams originating from across the globe—mostly from the United States, Canada, Britain, Nigeria and China—are gathering steam this year with a nearly 50 percent increase in complaints reported to U.S. authorities in March alone.
About 74 percent of the scams were through e-mail messages last year, especially spam, while about 29 percent used websites. But criminals were increasingly tapping new technologies such as social networking sites and instant messenger services.
The report highlights one new ‘significant’ identity-theft scam involving e-mail messages that give the appearance of originating from the FBI but seek bank account information to help in investigations of money being transferred to Nigeria.
Recipients of the e-mails are told they could be richly rewarded by cooperating. Duh.
Invest in identity theft protection and secure your PC with anti-virus protection such as McAfee
Meanwhile two scumbag criminal hackers are arrested while spying on children between the ages of 14 and 17 using the child’s personal Web cam. The degenerates worked together to extort money from teenagers in exchange for stolen images.
They allegedly gained access to computers using a variety of e-mail addresses and screen names.
Conficker is spawning new hacks such as Scareware as Scammers are taking advantage of the huge interest in the impending “activation” of the Conficker superworm by poisoning search engine results.
Washington Post reports experts have discovered a security hole in the computer code that powers the Conficker worm, an aggressive contagion that has spread to more than 12 million Microsoft Windows systems worldwide.
Stay tuned…
Robert Siciliano Identity Theft Speaker discusses credit card scams here
I’m excited to work with uni-ball in 2009 in a partnership to help raise awareness about the growing threat of identity theft and provide tips for protecting yourself. Check out uniball-na.com for more information.
https://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.png00Robert Sicilianohttps://safr.me/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/small-logo-safr-me-300x98.pngRobert Siciliano2009-03-31 13:48:162009-03-31 13:48:16WWW. Weird Wild Web Goes Nutty
