How Common Is Identity Theft?

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Wondering how likely you are to have your credit card number stolen? Well, according to a comprehensive survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), identity theft is affecting millions of households in the U.S each year and costing an estimated $6.4 billion per year. About 3 percent of all ...

Microsoft Picks Partners to Fight Phishing

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Microsoft has signed up three companies to add phishing monitoring and detection technology to its antiphishing filter in the MSN Search Toolbar and the upcoming release of Internet Explorer 7, and its SmartScreen e-mail filter, the company says. The software vendor has also released the final version of its phishing filter ...

Threat Alert: Spear Phishing

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

"After three unsuccessful attempts to access your account, your Online Profile has been locked. This has been done to secure your accounts and to protect your private information. You may unlock your profile by going to: ..." Sounds like a normal phishing e-mail, right? But what if the e-mail seemed ...

Phishers Try New Tactics

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Phishing is hooking more victims as the e-mail fraud attacks become more sophisticated and prevalent. According to market researchers at Gartner, the number of phishing e-mail recipients has grown 28 percent in 2005. Because fraudulent e-mails negatively impact consumer confidence, the research firm's recent study predicts phishing and other security breaches ...

One-In-Six Spyware Apps Tries To Steal Identities

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

A significant portion of spyware is designed specifically to steal identities, underscoring the trend toward more malicious use of such software by criminals, said a security firm Wednesday.Fifteen percent of the 2,000 known spyware threats analyzed by Aladdin Knowledge Systems over a two-month span send private information gathered from the ...

Spyware shifts from marketing to robbery

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Need examples of why spyware is so insidious? Headlines from the last few months are full of them, said Richard Stiennon, VP of threat research for Boulder, Colo.-based security firm Webroot. Spyware probably contributed to the data thievery companies like Lexis-Nexis, BJ's Wholesale Club and Bank of America suffered, he ...

Webroot: Spyware Rampant in the Enterprise

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

The number of Web sites distributing malicious software has quadrupled in the last year to more than 300,000, as the spyware problem continues to fester on the Internet, according to an upcoming report from Webroot , an antispyware software company. Webroot Software Inc.'s State of Spyware Report for the second quarter ...

ID Theft Keylogger Examined

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

I have had email conversations with a number of people at Sunbelt Software about the ID theft ring they discovered recently. They were kind enough to provide a HijackThis log entry that identifies the keylogger. I promised not to publish it but said I would warn the helpers at the ...

Be Careful With Your Password Away From Home

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

The US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is asking banks to warn their customers against logging into their accounts on public machines. Many computers used for public internet access have surveillance spyware installed on them. The spyware might take screenshots, record keystrokes and monitor web addresses visited; ... then send ...

10 steps everyone should take to protect their online privacy

Saturday, March 8th, 2008

Online privacy is at risk now more than ever. It is important that people take the protection of their personal information into their own hands. Below are ten steps everyone should take to protect their personal, sensitive, and valuable information. Step 1 Think before you type. The Internet is the least privacy-friendly ...