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"SPAMfighter News" - 4 new articles

Phishing E-Mail Targets York University Students
NIU Warns of Phishing E-Mail Trying to Steal Personal Information
Next to Bangalore, Chennai Experiences Maximum Financial Loss Due to Phishing
'Celebrity Searches' on Web Could Infect Computers
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Phishing E-Mail Targets York University Students

Some students of York University while checking their e-mail accounts may find fraudulent e-mails that claim to come from individuals of the university but try to obtain sensitive personal details, as per the recent warning from the university officials.

Furthermore, in some instances, the fraudulent senders are purporting to be from the York University IT helpdesk and trying to dupe the students into sharing their passwords. E-mail addresses belong to black cat community, an underground forum for spyware, spammers and other attackers.

Chris Russel, Director of IT Infrastructure for York University, states that individuals, who have performed this kind of activity of phishing could be seeking to fulfill a number of purposes. These could relate to seeking personal information to commit identity theft, probably the greatest offense of the kind, or to distribute spam mails from illegally accessed account, as reported by Excalibur on September 16, 2008.

Russel further says that spammers have a strong demand for esteemed e-mail accounts like those from Yorkmail because they manage to bypass the Yorkmail users' built-in spam filters with relative ease than the filters set up for free accounts.

Meanwhile, it is not clear as to how many people in the university have affected; however, no private details of faculty and students have leaked as the reply IDs are redirected, according to the officials.

Also, according to the officials, anyone, who receives a message pretending to be from the university and asking for users' passwords via e-mail, should immediately know that it is not legitimate, and therefore should not answer it. However, there is only a small percentage of people who answer spam mails but even if that small percentage replies, it covers the little cost that is incurred for spamming; thereby, maintaining the spammers' interest in the activity.

Meanwhile, spamming activity in the form of phishing scams has considerably increased during the past six months from March to August 2008 in different universities. One such scam was circulating the inboxes of Kent State University during 2nd week of September 2008. Nevertheless, people should realize that no IT group in any university would any time disburse notification to inmates asking to provide their passwords.

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NIU Warns of Phishing E-Mail Trying to Steal Personal Information

A new e-mail scam is circulating the inboxes of Northern Illinois University (NIU), asking for personal details from e-mail account holders at NIU.

Using the subject line "Confirm Your E-mail", the phishing e-mail pretends to come from NIU Support and says that NIU is trying to confirm the recipient's GroupWise account information. Therefore, the recipient needs to click on an included link to fulfill the requirement. However, security specialists say that the e-mail is SPAM that attempts to capture information.

The security specialists also revealed that such scam or phishing e-mails had turned into a big problem on NIU e-mail accounts over the past few years. As a result, the NIU has set up an "E-mail Information Security Notice" on its official site to caution users against the frauds. To interpret it and a similar alert ever issued via e-mail, NIU would never solicit any kind of personal information.

Jim Fatz, Director of Security, Operations and Information, NIU, in spite of warnings as well as knowledge of such types of scams, around 30-40 owners of NIU accounts have been victimized in the scam. And once the accounts are hijacked, it starts a rescue process for securing users' online identity against the con artists, with the rescue process taking considerable time, as reported by NorthernStar on September 15, 2008.

Moreover, security professionals state that this problem is likely to stay at least in the near future and that is very unfortunate. Phishing fraudsters are skilled in covering their traces, and as most of them are stationed in foreign countries, it is much more difficult to identify them. Also, it is hard to determine those domains that need to be blocked.

Meanwhile, the NIU authorities have cautioned everyone against giving out information in reply to the fraudulent e-mail. They have also confirmed that no NIU system in relation to the e-mail has been compromised.

The authorities further said that in case anyone replied to the scam e-mail and divulged his/her account information, he/she should change his/her GroupWise password immediately. Furthermore, help was available to anyone who needed it from the NIU authorities.

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Next to Bangalore, Chennai Experiences Maximum Financial Loss Due to Phishing

Bangalore Cyber Crime Cell, India, released its phishing reports in the first week of September 2008 that says the Cell had reported 47 phishing cases in the city during 2007. But in 2008, 33 cases have already been reported, with over 130 accounts affected, as reported by BCS News.

Nevertheless, it appears to security researchers and analysts that scammers are not humored with this development, as Chennai has reportedly lost more than Rs.1 Crore to phishers during 2008 alone. This has been due an increased number of users switching to online banking.

Moreover, although banks are repeatedly warning against phishing scams, the irony is that educated customers continue to become victims of online robbers, say security officials.

Meanwhile, according to some police officials, the department has recognized nearly 21 types of unique phishing e-mails, with a majority are linking to spoofed Web pages pertaining to mainstream banks. A few of phishing messages exploit the users inclination to become convinced with offers of gifts or free money.

While officials of the cyber crime cell continue to probe into various phishing incidences, it appears to security experts that scammers have already established an association in India, with its roots firmly fixed in the country's commercial capital, Mumbai.

M. Sudhakar, Assistant Commissioner, Cyber Crime Cell, states that people should understand that banks would never request for sensitive or personal information, as reported by The Times of India on September 12, 2008.

Sudhakar further says that people should not be duped with e-mails having greedy messages that attempt to entice them with promises of gifts or 'easy to get' bank loans as they are from phishers who always look for phishing recipients off their money.

However, Zaki Qureshey from E2Labs blames the tendency on inappropriate security maintained in the cyber cafes of the city, as reported by BCS on September 9, 2008.

Qureshey also said that Hyderabad was the city with most number of cyber cafes, the best bandwidth service and the largest number of users who operate from home compared to any other state in South India; but unfortunately, it has the lowest level of awareness.

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'Celebrity Searches' on Web Could Infect Computers

In a freshly released report, California located McAfee states that searching for pictures or information about celebrities carries 18% possibility of infection from spyware, adware, virus, spam and phishing.

The report further says that singer Beyonce and actor Brad Pitt are the most perilous celebrities so far as searching for them on the net is very risky.

Also, as per the report, Internet surfers searching for celebrity information, gossip, images and downloads of their favorite pop artists are in danger of being diverted to phony Websites. These sites appear legitimate but actually pose severe threat to users' PCs as cyber-crooks employ commonly searched names of notable people and celebrities to entice victims.

Also, Security Researchers at McAfee state that to reel in Internet traffic, online attackers often set up malware infested Web pages carrying a list of rock stars or film actors. In addition, as per the report, every month, Web users make over 550 Million clicks that connect to risky sites and infect the end-users with malware.

According to Jeff Green, Senior Vice President of McAfee's Product Development & Avert Labs, although cyber-criminals utilize numerous methods, one of the most effective methods is to deceive consumers into contaminating themselves with malware, by exploiting Americans' preference for celebrity gossip, as reported by RedOrbit on September 16, 2008.

Green added that the infection could be easily spread by tapping into pop culture, breaking events, and commonly visited sites.

Meanwhile, McAfee's report puts Brad Pitt on top of the list, given that over 50% of the sites coming up in search results are infested with malicious downloads while searching for "Brad Pitt wallpaper". Furthermore, entering "Beyonce ring tones" as keywords for a search also generates risky sites that advertise misleading offers designed to collect consumers' private information.

The report also revealed that other names that were dangerous to search include Heidi Montag, the star of "The Hills', a reality TV show, and singer Justin Timberlake.

Green also said that it is important to adopt precautionary steps while doing casual surfing on the Web as many astute sites might be filled with malware to attack consumers' computers.

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