Brad is the Pitts for email security
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Searching for Brad Pitt or Beyonce during the lunch break could leave staff in hot water, research has shown.
According to SC Magazine, these two A-listers are most commonly exploited by hackers trying to launch viruses, phishing scams and spam email campaigns.
Users searching for terms related to the Ocean's 13 star were found to be at a one in five risk of being exposed to some form of malware.
Researchers said the findings represented a growing trend whereby hackers try to capitalize on areas of widespread interest to compromise web and email security.
Furthermore, some malicious users are crafting fake fan sites in an attempt to infect visitors' machines with various forms of malware.
It follows widespread reports that spam email campaigns were preying on fears over military conflict in Iran to lure people into clicking on virus-ridden messages.
So too, false rumours about a sexual scandal involving Barack Obama have also been circulating as fraudsters think up ever more elaborate phishing scams.
Related News:
FBI: Law firms and PR agencies high on hacker target lists - 11.18.2009
Using complex email scams, cyber criminals are increasingly targeting sensitive information held by law firms and public relations companies, according to an FBI advisory released earlier this month.
Phishing email takes numerous forms - 11.17.2009
The practice of impersonating authoritative websites and sources in order to convince victims to divulge personal information - known as phishing - has come a long way from the Nigerian "419" scams that popularized the technique in the public mind. Modern phishing is becoming increasingly dangerous in part because attacks can come from a variety of sources.
Email filtering technology working overtime, but spam won't go quietly - 11.16.2009
While modern email filtering systems can block 95 to 99 percent of spam messages, according to Tech Target, mountains of unsolicited email are still delivered every day, accounting for the vast majority of all emails sent.
Phishing scam targets investors, spoofs finance agency - 10.9.2009
The Financial Industry Regulatory Agency (FINRA), an independent regulator of brokerages, is warning investors that they may be targeted by a phishing scam through emails claiming to come from the agency.
Phishing scammers leak Windows Live Hotmail passwords to web - 10.6.2009
Hackers posted thousands of passwords from Windows Live Hotmail email accounts to a website over the weekend, in what Microsoft said was the result of a phishing campaign targeting the free webmail service.
|
