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McAfee issues users with warning against scareware

Jenny Sanderson — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:00:13 +0000

The idea of ‘scareware’ sounds a lot more intimidating than it actually is. It refers to fake programs, normally imitation anti-virus software that has been plastered all around the web in the hope of conning the less internet savvy users.

Although this may not sound particularly ‘scary’ McAfee thought that it was enough of an issue to sound the alarm about these fake programs. Possibly because they may be costing them money by taking away subscribers, or maybe they are generally concerned, I guess we will never really know.

A statistic released by Datamation, that details a McAfee labs report, which revealed that as many as 1 million people are being targeted by scareware every day, is a pertinent one, revealing exactly why McAfee are so concerned.

They were so concerned in actual fact that that they have decided this week to launch a consumer threat alert program that will provide a blog and e-mail subscription service to do the honourable job of keeping consumers clued up on all the latest online scams going around the internet, for a small fee… Surely if they are so concerned it should be a free service?

McAfee claim that internet users are scammed out of roughly $300 million a year by these programs that prey on the naiveté and lack of confidence of many internet users. They present them with what usually does look a perfectly legitimate warning that their system may be under threat and that they risk losing all data, the user will then be prompted to purchase some rogue software that will do nothing but cost them money and on occasion spread a virus through their system.

So it seems McAfee are doing a good thing by issuing a warning about these threats as many people do not realise the dangers and costliness of these scareware programs. However, it would seem fairly beneficial to McAfee at the same time, as they can now offer another paid subscription service just to inform people of dangerous content whilst re assuring them that they are the best program to use to keep your computer safe, fair enough.

Majority of Email is Spam

Jenny Sanderson — Wed, 27 May 2009 11:34:58 +0000

Okay, we all know that email spam is a big problem. We realise that a large percentage of the messages we receive these days are going to be spurious mail-shots, scams or adverts. However, you might be surprised to realise exactly how much. According to a report released earlier in the week by Symantec, the percentage of email that could be classified as spam is over 90 percent (90.4 to be precise).

The report confirms the widely held fear that the global network of spammers has almost fully recovered from the setback it encountered last year, when many less than reputable servers around the world were closed down. The study also revealed some illuminating insights into exactly how we get spammed – essentially the Americans get their spam early in the morning whilst Europeans get more of a steady stream.

The report basically underlines the need for the technology community to get to grips with the spam & malware phenomenon. Email spam is purely a numbers game – if you can send out 2 million scam emails then you are simply going to get a few takes. Right now it would seem like the numbers are very much in their favour.

US Government getting serious about Online Security

James Oliver — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:23:39 +0000

Melissa Hathaway, a strong candidate for the job of net security Czar to president Obama, has told a San Francisco technology conference that the White House should take charge of online security itself. Hathaway, who has just completed a review of cyber security for the president, has stated that the internet was not built with security in mind and has recommended the development of a comprehensive strategy to combat breaches of privacy.

Calling internet security “One of the most serious challenges of the 21st Century,” she left her audience in no doubt whatsoever as to the scale of the problem, fully acknowledging that the process is going to be very difficult, as the problem has been allowed to stagnate for so long.

“Cyber space won’t be secured overnight on the basis of one good plan,”

According to Hathaway the first challenge will be overcoming the ignorance and misunderstandings surrounding online security.

“We need an agreed way forward based on common understanding and acceptance of the problem.”

The speech is being seen as a clear statement of intent that should see her position at the head of the queue for the net security czar job consolidated.

Conficker.c activated

James Oliver — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 12:24:04 +0000

If you’ve been paying attention to the tech press over the last few days, you might have seen the slightly sensationalised claims about the Conficker.c Worm. For the uninitiated, the Conficker.c Worm is the computer security threat that has been built into an apocalyptic scare over the last few days. The Conficker.c Worm is a risk, in fact it’s the largest botnet ever seen though people’s fears have been overblown over the last few days.

A main feature of the coverage has been the supposed activation of the worm at midnight on April the first (Last night). This event was expected to turn the estimated ten million Conficker.c infected computers into fully infected agents for sending spam messing with the very structure of the Internet.

The good news is that the infrastructure is fine, the Internet is working as well as usual and is in no danger of failing. As expected really – even if the spammers behind Conficker.c had the power to crash the Internet, as spammers would it really be in their interests?

Basically, for all the hyperbole that’s been flying around recently Conficker.c is just a worm, a very widespread one, but a worm nonetheless. We’ll probably see an increase in spam over the coming weeks but that should be it.

Spambots return after very brief Hiatus

Admin — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 10:00:35 +0000

The world of Spam protection had been enjoying an uncharacteristic period of calm over the last few weeks. After the closure of unscrupulous hosting sevice, McColo, (a service provider that coordinated a phenomenal amount of spam until its actions were discovered by security researchers at the start of the month) forced levels of spam to drop by as much as 65%. That period however, would appear to be over as, predictably enough, the spammers have found a way back.

In truth, incidence of spam had been rising steadily over the days since the closure but last Monday saw a particular spike with many of the famous, or infamous, botnets finding new service providers. The following day, the moment everyone had been dreading came when Srizbi, a botnet that has been credited with responsibility for as much as 50 percent of all spam, re-emerged.

The most worrying, if not surprising, thing for internet security experts has been how quickly the botnet owners have managed to find new ways to get back online. Now, with the major spammers finding their way back onto the net, expect to see spam messages returning with a vengeance over the coming weeks.

Malicious Malware Authors exploit Obama win

Matt Thomas — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 11:24:36 +0000

Security sources claim that directly following Barack Obama’s win in the presidential election on Tuesday, a malicious Malware campaign was initiated. The campaign aimed to steal personal information from internet users by creating an Obama related Trojan to exploit the popularity of the president-elect and the huge web traffic surrounding him.

It isn’t an isolated case either. According to security experts, spam relating to Obama has made up about 60 per cent of all spam messages, making this a truly global attack, ironically facilitated by the man who has been called ‘the first global president.’ Graham Cluley, Sophos Labs’ senior technology consultant said, “The hackers are taking advantage of Obama-mania.”

Specifically Malware attackers are using widespread post-election interest to their advantage by sending a completely legitimate looking email, claiming to offer news of Obama’s win. The email then offers a link to view ‘Obama’s Victory Speech.’ However, ‘to view the link’ users are required to download information stealing software which, once initiated, can send their information to one or many control centres.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, a user’s computer can also be added to a botnet – a network designed to help email Spam to yet more computers.

As always, our advice is to be very cautious about clicking on links in unsolicited emails. If in doubt, don’t click.