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Cybercriminals increasingly targeting consumers
By siliconindia
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Friday, 13 May 2011, 23:22 IST
New Delhi: Microsoft Corporation released its Security Intelligence Report volume ten, and the findings indicate that the cybercriminals are increasingly targeting consumers. There is polarization in terms of cybercriminal behavior and a significant increase in the use of 'marketing-like' approaches and deception tactics to steal money from consumers.
The attack methods include the use of rogue security software, phishing through social networks, and adware, which have increased since 2010. They continue to incorporate social lures that appear to be legitimate marketing campaigns and product promotions. Six of the top ten most prevalent malware families in the second half of 2010 fall into these categories of attack methods. Criminals using these malware families make money through tricking users with pay-per-click schemes, false advertisements, or fake security software for sale. Additionally, the report highlights an increase of over 1200 percent in phishing through social networking sites, as these venues have become lucrative hot beds for criminal activity.
The most common category in India was Worms, which affected 42.5 percent of all infected computers, down from 45.4 percent in the last quarter. The second most common category in India was Misc. Trojans, which affected 33.9 percent of all infected computers, down from 34.5 percent from the last quarter. The third most common category in India was Misc. Potentially Unwanted Software, which affected 33.7 percent of all infected computers, up from 31.9 percent in the last quarter
Sanjay Bahl, Chief Security Officer of Microsoft India said, "In India alone, there are over 50 million users of social networking sites viz. facebook, orkut, LinkedIn, Twitter. Hence the opportunities for cybercriminals to create havoc too has increased manifold. Microsoft is committed to address issues related to online crime and this report is a guide for all consumers to make them aware of the threats that exist online."
Phishing through social networks increased from a low of 8.3 percent of all phishing in January to a high of 84.5 percent in December 2010.The detection of a new pair of adware families, JS/Pornpop and Win32/ClickPotato, between July and September 2010 contributed significantly to this increase. ClickPotato is a program that displays pop-up and notification-style advertisements, based on the users browsing habits. Pornpop is an adware family that attempts to display pop-under advertisements in users web browsers that usually contain adult content.
Additionally, rogue security software, or scareware, has quickly become one of the most common ways for cybercriminals across the globe to acquire money and private information from unassuming computer users. Rogue security software families, including the most prevalent, Win32/FakeSpypro, appear similar to legitimate security software providing a false sense of protection, and if trusted and clicked by the user, downloads itself and compromises systems.
Microsoft encourages employing to use genuine software, protect the PC through online safety guidance to protect information when surfing online and accessing the many cloud services available. In order to protect your organization leverage best practices for securing networks, software and customers by implementing information security policies, promoting awareness. Run anti-virus software from a trusted vendor or you can use Microsoft Security Essentials which is available free of cost. Be cautious with software that is not digitally signed by its vendor.