CUPERTINO, Ca. – 2008 is only a few days old and Microsoft is already warning consumers of three fraudulent tactics that people should be aware of this year.
According to Adrienne Hall, senior director of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft, the first of these threats is an increase in phishing e-mails. Hall indicated that these e-mails have increased significantly between the second half of 2006 and the first half of 2007, likely from cybercriminals seeking contributions to a presidential candidate or donations for the Olympic Games.
“Cybercriminals will continue to follow the money,” she added. “Cybercrime is opportunistic and will continue to utilize attack vehicles that take advantage of hot issues [coming up] this year.”
The second threat that consumers should be on their guard for is e-greeting card scams. Hall explained that cybercriminals are using e-greeting cards to embed deceitful hyperlinks that seek to obtain financial information or load malicious code onto a user’s PC. With this scam, the appeal for cybercriminals is easy to pinpoint, said Hall, because eCards are popular and gain significant e-mail traction over the holidays, increasing the odds that a consumer will open a malicious one.
The third tactic is scams asking people to verify information via a phone number that is directly connected to a cybercriminal’s computer. Hall warned that these scams can appear very genuine but are entirely motivated by profit and can be very impactful. She added that while a consumer might be reluctant to provide personal information online, they might be more willing to communicate it over the phone and cybercriminals are hoping for this, and hitting consumers at all angles in an attempt to turn a profit.
“Cybercriminals are pulling out all the stops for 2008,” noted Hall. “The scams will be sharp and well-targeted. We are also seeing e-mail scams trending away from the more traditional virus-filled attachments to embedding deceitful hyperlinks into seemingly harmless e-mail content.”
The emerging popularity of social engineering sites has led criminals to use this route to target people and manipulate them into taking action online enabling criminals to steal their money or personal information.
“The factors leading to social engineering as a growing threat all center on the motivation by profit. Cybercriminals have trended away from the notoriety associated with propagating viruses, in favor of targeted and more sophisticated phishing scams to lure a consumer into revealing personal information. Unfortunately, crime pays, and this has shaped the current online threat landscape,” said Hall.
To protect themselves from the threats emerging in 2008, Hall suggested that customers enable a firewall, turn on automatic updates for their operating system and install anti-virus and anti-spyware software.
Other tips that Hall offered include customers keeping personal information to themselves. “Guard account numbers, your Social Security number and passwords with special care,” she said.
As well, Hall advised that people be careful about sharing files. File-sharing can increase the risk of installing worms, viruses and spyware on a PC and also download files from only known and trustworthy sites.
Additionally, Hall cautioned people to be careful when using public computer networks and not use them for online banking or shopping.
She also reiterated the importance of not opening up attachments from people that are unknown to users and delete any spam e-mail coming into inboxes. And people should think before they click on any links or attachments found in e-mails and instant messages and also advised not to click on banner ads or pop-up windows. Additionally, Hall suggested that people use strong passwords, with a mixture of numbers, letters and symbols and is at least eight characters in length.
“Security threats are an industry-wide issue and it is important that the industry work together to stay ahead of these threats and help protect customers. Education is a key component in helping to safeguard against online threats, which is why Microsoft is reaching out to let consumers know about threats that they should be very mindful of in the new year.”
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