Small businesses hit hardest by online fraud
by Jan HarrisThe Forum of Private Business (FPB) has warned that SMEs are vulnerable to fraud when taking online payments. In cases where credit card information has been stolen and used to place an order, the e-Commerce merchant may have to refund expenses and pay a chargeback fee if the legal cardholder refuses to pay. Small businesses [...]
September 13, 2011
30% of Fortune 500 susceptible to Doppelganger domain attacks
by Kerry ButtersMalware creators have long since caught on to the idea that they can catch out people who misspell words when typing in the address bar and have bought up domains accordingly. New research has found that a new type of “domain squatting” has emerged, in which crooks are buying up domains that have a dot [...]
September 7, 2011
Twitter spam on the up
by Kerry ButtersA report from Naked Security, the blog of security firm Sophos warns users of continuing phishing attacks carried out on Twitter users. The attacks are designed to reap passwords from victims and apparently often come in the form of a message from friends. The latest threat is similar to the ones we’ve seen a spate [...]
June 29, 2011
Tumblr logins compromised by phishers
by Jan HarrisBlog hosting platform Tumblr has suffered a major phishing attack over the past few days, with more than 8,000 users falling for the scam according to security firm GFI Software. Tumblr users should beat a hasty retreat from web pages displaying links to adult content as the link could be malicious. The bogus pages require [...]
June 20, 2011
Sophos warns of HSBC Wimbledon phishing scam
by Jan HarrisWith the UK’s hopes pinned on Andy Murray as Wimbledon hits off today, security expert Sophos is warning people not to be taken in by cyber criminals trying to take advantage of the high level of interest in the event. In a blog post, Graham Cluley of Sophos warns that a phishing email is doing [...]
June 2, 2011
Google angers China over Gmail hacking claim
by Jan HarrisGoogle has identified an attack on the Gmail accounts of senior figures which it believes originated from Jinan in China. Hackers have gained access to the Gmail accounts of government officials in the US, South Korea and other Asian countries, military personnel and journalists. The accounts of Chinese political activists are also believed to have [...]
February 7, 2011
UK worst in Europe for financial phishing
by Jan HarrisTomorrow is Safer Internet Day and according to the latest statistics from the EU, the Internet certainly isn’t safe for many surfers. The EU report, covering the 27 member states, highlights that a third of Internet users were attacked by malware in 2010, despite the fact that 84 per cent had security software installed on [...]
January 11, 2011
UK fifth for spam
by Jan HarrisThe US is still the worst offender for sending spam, while the UK remains in fifth place, according to the latest report from Sophos. Sophos attributed the US’s inglorious first place to the large number of compromised computers in the country. It seems that many US users aren’t up to speed on security as 36 [...]
July 26, 2010
Webroot Internet Security Complete launched
by Darren AllanWebroot has announced that its Internet Security Complete product has arrived. The company claims that the security suite offers the most comprehensive protection available, with cloud-based technology. “Security and privacy on the Web are becoming more complex – we’re performing more personal transactions online, from an expanding number of locations and devices,” commented Mike Kronenberg, [...]
March 11, 2010
Twitter prepares phishing defences
by Darren AllanTwitter has recently experienced a wave of phishing attacks, whereby users are tricked into visiting a false Twitter login page into which they unwittingly enter their details. The simple remedy for this is to always, whenever you click on a link, check the URL of the site you’ve been sent to. If it isn’t the [...]
March 27, 2008
Google Adwords targeted in phishing attacks
by Brian TurnerGoogle Adwords customers are being warned to watch out for fake emails claiming to be from Google Adwords, which attempt to steal login details. Google Adwords has become the latest service to be targeted by phishers, using spoof emails to steal user login data. Normally targeted at banks and online financial providers, the aim is [...]