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Consumer Threats

Finding solutions for the problem of consumerization.

Michael Angelo, security architect, NetIQ February 17, 2010

Consumerization is the use of consumer targeted technology in the work environment. While it may not yet have reached fever pitch, there is a steady and growing awareness of the risks of a new trend in business computing: consumerization.

ID theft still on the rise, but victims respond faster

Dan Kaplan February 10, 2010

Incidents of identity fraud and the total cost of fraud once again climbed last year, but consumers are becoming better equipped to respond to the occurrences of theft, according to a report released Wednesday by Javelin Strategy & Research.

Financial services firm notifies 1.2 million of breach

Angela Moscaritolo January 19, 2010

Lincoln National Corp. (LNC), a Radnor, Pa.-based financial services organization, revealed early this month that a vulnerability in its portfolio information system could have caused the personal records of more than one million individuals to be inappropriately accessed.

Secure customer loyalty with the gift of data security

Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer, Kroll Fraud Solutions December 07, 2009

Retailers need to check their list twice to ensure the proper security measures are in place.

Zeus spreading through drive-by download

Angela Moscaritolo November 30, 2009

The Zeus trojan is using a new tactic to infect users' computers, security researchers are warning.

Experts expect exploits abound on Cyber Monday

Angela Moscaritolo November 25, 2009

Cybercriminals have already begun to ramp up their exploits in preparation for Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.

New Verizon Wireless-themed Zeus campaign hits

Angela Moscaritolo November 16, 2009

A wave of spam over the weekend, which appeared to come from Verizon Wireless, was instead propagating the information-stealing Zbot trojan.

N.Y. bank computer technician charged with ID theft

Angela Moscaritolo October 30, 2009

A New York computer technician has been charged with stealing the personal data of Bank of New York Mellon employees.

New ID theft rules may not pertain to small businesses

Angela Moscaritolo October 22, 2009

A new bill, passed unanimously by the U.S. House of Representatives this week, would exclude health care, accounting and legal firms with 20 or fewer employees from complying with the Red Flags Rules.

Survey: ID theft tops list of American's security concerns

Angela Moscaritolo October 20, 2009

Sixty-five percent of American respondents said they were "seriously concerned" about unauthorized access or misuse of their personal information, while 47 percent felt the same about H1N1.

Google to offer webmasters samples of malware code

Angela Moscaritolo October 15, 2009

A new feature from Google is designed to help website administrators identify malicious code on their sites.

Huge uptick in spam-borne malware since mid-September

Angela Moscaritolo October 07, 2009

The amount of the amount of spam containing malware increased ninefold during September over the previous month, according to Symantec.

Asprox botnet launches new wave of SQL injection

Angela Moscaritolo October 06, 2009

Researchers are not sure how many websites have been compromised but said new Asprox botnet attacks are underway.

Facebook cuts off accounts spreading rogue anti-virus

Dan Kaplan October 02, 2009

On the same day that the Internet Crime Complaint Center issued an alert on the ongoing dangers of social networking fraud, a computer security researcher reported on a new Facebook threat in which scores of fake member profiles were attempting to push rogue anti-virus programs.

Payroll services firm PayChoice breached

Angela Moscaritolo October 01, 2009

Attackers used information obtained from a breach to craft targeted messages aimed at persuading users to download an information-stealing trojan.

URLZone touted as most sophisticated banking trojan yet

Angela Moscaritolo September 30, 2009

The trojan not only retrieves banking credentials but also is directed to steal money from compromised accounts, often making it appear to the victim that it took less than it actually did.

Zbot evades most anti-virus programs

Angela Moscaritolo September 16, 2009

Researchers at Trusteer credit the trojan's morphing and rootkit capabilities with keeping it in the wild.

Serena Williams meltdown is latest poisoned search attack

Dan Kaplan September 14, 2009

Hackers continue to use a tried-and-true tactic to infect internet users: poisoned search results.

Most malware dies within 24 hours

Angela Moscaritolo August 13, 2009

Nineteen percent of malware variants last for two days, and just nine percent last three days, according to anti-virus vendor Panda Security.

Top websites using Flash cookies to track user behavior

Angela Moscaritolo August 11, 2009

Little-known Adobe Flash cookies are being used by some websites to get around users' attempts to avoid being tracked by advertising networks, according to research from University of California, Berkeley.

Fake job emails

Dan Kaplan August 05, 2009

A security firm is warning about a new round of emails that masquerade as job opportunities but actually try to phish recipients out of financial information. According to the company, Red Condor, the messages claim to offer employment to companies such as Pepsi and Starbucks -- or appear to come from job sites such as CareerBuilder and Monster. However, the emails typically contain "payment processing" requests and ask for bank account information. The company said this type of scam is not surprising, considering the rising unemployment rate. — DK

Better Business Bureau warns of phone phishing ploy

Dan Kaplan August 05, 2009

Phony debt collectors appear to be using stolen sensitive data to add some social engineering to their scams.

Black Hat: Clampi banking trojan spreading rapidly

Dan Kaplan July 30, 2009

A newly revealed banking trojan is considered one of the biggest threats on the internet because of the way it can quickly spread.

First lady's safe house location leaked on P2P

Angela Moscaritolo July 29, 2009

Also found: a listing of the locations of all U.S. nuclear facilities and a document containing the personal information of hundreds of thousands of U.S. military members.

Fake Erin Andrews clip

Dan Kaplan July 21, 2009

Virus researchers are warning web surfers to be on the lookout for malicious websites claiming to offer a naked video of Erin Andrews, the attractive ESPN sports reporter who was recently captured with her clothes off in a hotel room by a peephole camera. The real video made its way to the web, but has since been taken down. Now, cybercrooks, recognizing that many users are searching for the popular clip, have created websites claiming to show the video but actually try to infect visitors with malware, anti-virus firm Sophos said this week. — DK

"Harry Potter" malware hits

Dan Kaplan July 17, 2009

Hackers are leveraging the popularity of a summer blockbuster to dish out malware, according to anti-virus provider ThreatFire. Links related to the new "Harry Potter" movie are popping up across the web, especially on sites such as Digg.com and Blogspot.com, the company said Thursday in a blog post. If users follow the link, they are brought to a site claiming to offer a video of the movie but actually tries to get them to install a host of malware, including the Koobface worm and rogue anti-virus programs. — DK

One in six reply to spam

Angela Moscaritolo July 16, 2009

One in six consumers has responded to a message they suspected was spam, according to a survey released on Thursday by the nonprofit Messaging Anti-Abuse Working Group. Of the consumers who responded to spam, most did so by mistake, but 12 percent were interested in buying the product offered, and six percent just "wanted to see what would happen." In addition, nearly 80 percent of respondents doubted their computer was ever at risk of becoming part of a botnet. — AM

"Nine-Ball" mass injection attack compromised 40,000 sites

Angela Moscaritolo June 17, 2009

A new threat dubbed "Nine-Ball" has compromised up to 40,000 legitimate websites that are now infecting users with an information-stealing trojan, according to security vendor Websense.

Microsoft seeks $750,000 in lawsuit over click fraud

Angela Moscaritolo June 16, 2009

Microsoft on Monday filed a civil lawsuit to stop a click fraud scheme from being perpetrated on its advertising network.

Researcher plans to unveil a month of Twitter bugs in July

Dan Kaplan June 16, 2009

A security researcher plans to raise awareness about how third-party developer sites can be exploited to abuse social networking sites, namely Twitter.