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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.

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.

Phishing on Facebook

James Oliver — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:11:48 +0000

Facebook users are being warned to display vigilance when it comes to using third party apps on the popular social networking site. The warning comes after hackers launched yet another programme specifically aimed at convincing users to give up their log in details.

The app in question is called ‘F a c e b o o k – closing down!!!’ and sends fake emails to all of your contacts claiming that they’ve been reported for violating the Facebook terms of service. They’re then obviously directed to click a link to find out why they were reported. Once you click the link, you give hackers access to your personal profile and information. As well as this, the message will be forwarded to all of your friends, some of whom will do the same as you and perpetuate the cycle.

The issue here is that Facebook allows absolutely anyone that wants to, to write an app and those apps are not vetted by anybody before they’re made available. This is how the social network is able to offer such an exciting range of applications. However, it’s also the door through which hackers can squeeze onto Facebook.

These applications may simply be the nature of the beast. However, this kind of publicity is the last thing Facebook needs right now.

Hacking on the increase amongst Teenagers

James Oliver — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 09:00:31 +0000

Computer security professionals are warning the world’s computer users that hacking and other forms of internet crime is on the rise amongst the world’s teenage population. According to these analysts, a worrying number of online forums are filling up with young people exchanging phishing kits, credit card details and hacking tips as if it was nothing unusual.

This is not only bad for us, but also for the kids themselves. The sophistication of their hacking varies, though most are inexperienced, their poor levels of skill mean that many of them they are almost guaranteed to get caught eventually, lumbering themselves with a criminal record for life.

Apparently, kids as young as 11 or 12 are online searching for techniques to commit fraud and/or break into restricted websites. I suppose we shouldn’t be too surprised, after all this is the most web savvy generation ever – it’s no real surprise that some of these kids overestimate their abilities and get themselves into trouble. According to analysts many children initially get into trouble by looking for exploits and cracks for their favourite computer games and then move onto more serious, even criminal, hacking activities.

Mac Trojan found in Pirated Programme

James Oliver — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 11:52:50 +0000

Security software provider, Intego, have this week claimed to have discovered Trojan software for Mac OS X. The Trojan was found on a pirated copy of iWork 09, it installs itself along with iWork and connects to a remote server potentially allowing the malware creator to steal information and/or control the computer remotely. According to Intego around 20,000 people have downloaded the Trojan so far.

Compared to Windows that’s really not that much – the downandup worm for instance, is estimated to have infected around 9 million PCs so far. However, any discovery like this for Macs is likely to be seen as a big deal, mainly due to the fact that for years Apple have been marketing the Mac as virus free, not safe in comparison or very secure but virus free!

They continue to use this as one of the cornerstones of their marketing, despite growing evidence to the contrary like this iWork Trojan.

Lately there has been some suggestion that even elements within Apple itself would like the comapny to be more up front about the risk to their systems. The clearest example of this was late last year when a section appeared on Apple’s own support website suggesting that Mac users purchase not one but two virus protection programmes, just to be sure. The section was quickly removed and denounced as inaccurate.

Recovering from being hacked

Matt Thomas — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:00:57 +0000

Occasionally unfortunate individuals come to us and say that they have either received word from Google that there may be ‘badware’ being distributed from their site, or they have actually received a badware warning when browsing their own site. This is not a nice thing to happen, not least because it immediately presents you with two equally thorny problems; firstly, getting rid of the badware and secondly convincing Google that you have gotten rid of the badware.

As far as getting rid of it goes, that’s a little too complicated to go into here, though there are numerous helpful guides out there, (there’s a particularly good one on the Google Webmaster Blog) so there’s no need to despair.

After you’ve done the necessary fumigation, convincing Google that your site is now clean requires you to request a malware review from Google. They’ll take a look at your site, if they don’t agree that it’s clean they’ll present you with a list of the remaining dangerous URLs for you to clean up. If they do, you can expect the warnings on your site to disappear within 24 hours, though it may take a little longer for some browsers, i.e., Firefox to recognise the change.

If you feel your ranking has been affected by your bout of malware, it may also be worth filing a reconsideration request.

Being hacked is no fun at all but it needn’t ruin your week. If you follow these steps, you’ll be back on your feet in no time.

Intego get involved in ‘Virusgate’

Matt Thomas — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:22:12 +0000

Anti-virus software company, Intego have waded right into the middle of the Apple anti-virus furore, claiming that the removal of an article on knowledge base recommending Apple users install anti-virus software came from Apple management, who were “Worried about Apple’s reputation,” and “Acting irresponsibly.”

Intego claim that anti-virus software is very much needed on apple products, citing the 34 security updates issued by the company this year as evidence that Apple themselves are worried about viruses.

In a way these comments were to be expected, Intego are an anti-virus provider after all, though their opinion is backed up by numerous security experts who argue that there is really no reason that Apple products cant be susceptible to malware and viruses.

Either way, these new comments are sure to extend the life a story that started with a couple of sentences on an Apple website and is now snowballing into a much, much bigger deal every day as more and more people reopen the Age old Apple virus debate. All of which is very inconvenient for Apple, especially going into what is expected to be a very difficult Christmas for retailers, even ones that aren’t fighting waves of bad publicity.

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.