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"SPAMfighter News" - 5 new articles

OFWs Warned against E-mail Address Stealing Phishing Scam
Obama, Palin Topped in Election Related Spam
MessagesLabs – Spam E-mails Declined, Phishing & Malware Surged
Indian Financial Industry Facing Rising Online Fraud
Barclays Bank Customers Hit by Phishing Scam
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OFWs Warned against E-mail Address Stealing Phishing Scam

OFWs (Overseas Filipino Workers), their friends and family members have been warned by an e-mail against a phishing scam in which passwords and e-mail addresses are captured for financial gain.

A number of stolen e-mail addresses cases has been reported wherein an unknown person after joining a social networking site, where an e-mail password is required, captured the address. For instance, a Malaysia-based OFW narrowly escaped to become the victim of this scam. He disclosed that while chatting on Yahoo Messenger with a friend from the Philippines, he was asked to click on a link, which takes to a social networking site requesting for his Yahoo mail ID. He followed the directions given by his friend without giving a second thought, assuming that he talking to a closed friend.

After few hours, his friend replied with a text message asking where he can purchase prepaid roaming phone cards. These cards cost a huge amount of Php50,000 and wished to sell them to another Filipinos in Malaysia with profit.

He immediately cancelled the transaction after realizing that his friend was deceiving him and that he was victimized by hacker. Later, he found that his e-mail account was compromised and the hacker was trying to make money by exploiting the opportunity.

According to an IT specialist, the hacker got an idea of asking e-mail address from social networking Websites that look for e-mail account passwords. Hacker created a fake social site resembling the genuine site to collect Users' e-mail addresses and passwords.

Earlier, the Philippines government warned OFWs against international e-mail scams after concerns raised by various organizations, including media, law enforcement agencies and other authorities. OFWs were asked to take precautions while dealing with personal information online.

Meanwhile, officials have advised online users to use separate password on any site. They suggested that users should have two passwords - one for e-mail and the other password for other purposes. They also advised users to contact the person living in the same country through phone instead chatting online about important matters such as financial transactions.

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Obama, Palin Topped in Election Related Spam

As per the Secure Computing new study released on October 3, 2008, the volume of spam citing Sarah Palin standing ahead of her rival Sen. Joe Biden surged by 1.9% to 1.15% (a 5 to 4 ratio) in September 2008.

Further, in a race to the ticket, spam with the name of Sen. Barack Obama defeated his competitor Sen. John McCain by 84.4% to 12.6% (a 6 to 1 ratio).

While drawing a comparison in spam, the report says, news stories about Obama or McCain gave preference to McCain with 10 to 9 ratio. Websites mentioning Obama have surpassed those mentioning McCain by 3 to 2. On the contrary, the spam related to Sarah Palin is nearer to news stories or sites representing Palin. Both of them have surpassed Biden by 7 to 2.

Director of Data Mining Research Secure Computing, Sven Krasser, said that several spam mails mentioning the presidential candidates use fake subject headlines and links to lure users to click on them, as reported by Government Technology on October 6, 2008.

Also, Secure Computing released a sample of subject lines used by spammers, such as "OBAMA AHEAD AMONGST VOTERS WITH SIMILARLY WEIRD NAMES", "OBAMA SUPPORTERS ATTACK HILLARY IN SECOND LIFE" etc.

Secure Computing also added that although the content in the spam is meaningless, the basic outline of these spam are associated with the factors important for the conventional media as fundamental campaign issues like FOX news smears, race, messianic oratory and conflicts with Clinton, as reported by PCMagazine on October 3, 2008.

It also said that the McCain related spam are equally pushed by shallow media agenda which revolve around wealth and age.

Further, Secure Computing cautioned that October 2008 might witness an increase in spam attacks and other phishing activities based on the banks acquired or went under like Wachovia and Washington Mutual.

Also, gibberish spam and meaningless mails have expanded, representing either a malfunction in the software of hackers or an attempt to remove nonfunctioning mail addresses.

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MessagesLabs – Spam E-mails Declined, Phishing & Malware Surged

As per the MessageLabs Intelligence Report for the third quarter of 2008 and September 2008, the ratio of global spam e-mails originating from new and old unknown sources reached 70.1% (1 in every 1.43 e-mails), down 8.1% from the previous month (August 2008).

Mark Sunner, Chief Security Analyst at MessageLabs, said that addresses available on Intercage network were used by cyber criminals to host and control channels for botnets. Spam e-mail traffic severely disrupted at the end of September 2008 due to interference in functioning of botnets. But the slowdown in spam activities would not last for long as spammers generally exploit the holiday season by increasing their activities, as reported by MarketWatch on October 6, 2008.

Moreover, the analysis of Web security activity reveals that nearly 45.9% of the intercepted Web-based malware in September 2008 were new, according to the report. MessageLabs further stated that around 3,660 new Websites on an average every day hosting malware and other unsolicited programs, including spyware and adware, jumped 22.8% over August 2008.

In addition, the proportion of phishing attacks in September surged by 0.16% over the preceding month, with one in every 288.1 (0.35%) e-mails involved in some kind of phishing attack.

However, if the proportion of e-mail borne threats that include viruses and Trojans is compared, then the volume of phishing e-mails plunged 29% to 45.7% of the overall e-mail borne threats detected in September 2008. In third quarter of 2008, phishing level dropped to the lowest level from second quarter of 2008, with a sharp fall since the beginning of the current year.

According to the report, Hong Kong was the most spammed country in September 2008, with spam level rising by 13.2% to 79.6% of all the e-mail. On the contrary, many countries experienced drop in spam level; for instance - spam level in Oman plunged by 16.7%, the highest fall in the month.

Moreover, the spam level in other countries surged in September 2008; in the UK, it reached 66% and in Canada and the US, 68.4% and 72.4% respectively. In Germany, the spam level climbed to 65.4% and in the Netherlands to 66.1%.

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Indian Financial Industry Facing Rising Online Fraud

As per the KPMG India Fraud Survey 2008 Report, India has witnessed a significant increase in the proportion of phishing activities and online fraud.

The report also disclosed that over 80% of the respondents acknowledged online fraud as a problem and nearly 70% believe that it will surge in coming two years (by 2010).

According to the security experts, with increasing penetration of Internet, cyber criminals can access data easily. It has also enabled fraudsters to expand their operations beyond national borders. Techies generally work as anonymous freelancers and hack into IT systems or create malicious virus, Trojans and phishing scams to steal personal information.

On the other side, phishers and scammers get access to data through corrupt individuals in the targeted organization. Once the data is acquired, phishers begin their operations of identity theft and phishing at the local level in different countries.

According to the report, identity theft and phishing are continuously rising and authorities fail to reach the roots of the problem. Hence, the responsibilities of curbing this menace rest upon those who suffer from it - the financial sector - to stop the problem at the execution point and safeguarding the account throughout its lifecycle.

Security experts further revealed that majority of financial frauds in India are soft frauds wherein credit seekers manipulate application data to become eligible for the credit. But there are signs of entry of career criminals who have shown interest due to low risk of prosecution and high rewards.

Security experts added that financial fraud cannot be competed with and the industry has to work together to tackle it. Critical initiatives are required, such as the Indian Banks' Association has taken to try and increase data sharing. These initiatives will help targeted organizations to understand possible attack patterns and links to stop fraudulent applications, breached data assets and compromised accounts.

Moreover, fraud awareness should be raised which will help in ensuring up-to-date information about the latest fraud trends and developments to organizations engaged in preventing frauds. As a result, these organizations would be better prepared to fight with the global problem.

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Barclays Bank Customers Hit by Phishing Scam

A hoax phishing scam has hit the Barclays Bank, encouraging its customers to provide their confidential details by visiting the link that takes them to a fake Website, as reported by precisionmarketing.

According to the security researchers, Barclays' customers have received an e-mail with title 'restore your account', asking them to visit the fake Website of Barclays for providing their personal details. However, the security experts reveal that the spoofed URL does not match with the actual URL of Barclays Website.

Meanwhile, Barclays Bank has denied any association with the e-mail. It also said that if any person receives an e-mail asking for 'account verification', 'confirmation of sign-in details', or other similar request, then it is clearly a phishing scam. The bank has asked its customers to delete the e-mail immediately or send it at internetsecurity@barclays.co.in, bank's Internet security address.

A spokesperson for Barclays has urged customers to avoid replying or clicking on such mails as they are associated with phishing scams wherein users' personal details are stolen. Generally, fraudsters purchase customers' data from companies and target both businesses and consumers to exploit their personal banking details, as reported by precisionmarketing on October 3, 2008.

In addition, the bank illustrates that the links given in these phishing e-mails take users to fake Websites where they are asked to update or verify their banking details. The bank has also asked its online customers to be extra cautious, as these sites appear authentic and genuine.

Furthermore, Barclay has reminded its customers that some genuine e-mails from the bank might contain links but they will not take them directly to the home page or log-in page of the site.

As per the security experts, phishing attack on Barclays Bank is not a new trend. The bank was targeted in September 2006 also when a phishing threat was circulating on the net. The scam involved four domains created by attackers to host the fake Web pages of the bank to give an impression that bank customers were log-in in genuine Website.

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