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Consumer Threats

National Cybersecurity Awareness Month arrives

Angela Moscaritolo October 01, 2010

The annual National Cybersecurity Awareness Month festivities kick off Monday, and a new public awareness campaign highlights this year's event.

Public-private awareness initiative developed

Angela Moscaritolo August 10, 2010

A survey gauging public awareness over the need for internet safety and security confirms the need for a new national messaging campaign, according to two nonprofits.

New consumer privacy bill introduced in the U.S. House

Angela Moscaritolo July 22, 2010

Reactions are mixed to a proposed U.S. House bill that would govern the collection, use and dissemination of consumer information and impose fines of up to $5 million for violators.

FTC bars software maker from enabling illegal spying

Dan Kaplan June 03, 2010

The FTC is allowing a Florida company to continue selling its spyware software, but the maker must change its marketing and installation practices.

Storm Worm making comeback with new spam run

Dan Kaplan April 28, 2010

Researchers at CA say they have detected a new variant of the Storm Worm, the infamous botnet best known for its spam-producing abilities, but which was effectively killed off more than a year ago.

U.S. businesses face skimming fraud increase

Angela Moscaritolo April 27, 2010

Eastern European gangs are systematically conducting well-organized skimming attacks against U.S. consumers and businesses, according to a Gartner analyst.

Worries grow over safety of online transactions

Angela Moscaritolo April 13, 2010

The number of consumers seriously concerned about the security of online transactions is at its highest level in three years, according to the latest Unisys Security Index, released Tuesday. In the biannual survey of 1,004 consumers, which measures how safe Americans feel regarding national, financial, internet and personal security, 20 percent of respondents were "extremely concerned" about shopping or banking online, up from 16 percent in September 2009. Another 23 percent said they are "very concerned." Meanwhile, identity theft and national security ranked as Americans' top worries, garnering serious concern from 64 and 65 percent of respondents, respectively. — AM

BitTorrent users targeted in new trojan extortion ploy

Dan Kaplan April 12, 2010

Security experts warned on Monday that attackers are targeting users of BitTorrent, a file-sharing application, in a novel scam that attempts to panic them into spending cash to avoid fines and imprisonment.

N.Y. man gets 37 months for defrauding Schwab clients

Angela Moscaritolo April 12, 2010

A New York man has been sentenced to three years in prison for participating in a scam to defraud Charles Schwab banking and brokerage customers.

Romanian police, FBI break up 70-strong eBay fraud ring

Angela Moscaritolo April 07, 2010

Romanian law enforcement officials on Sunday arrested 70 individuals from three organized cybercrime groups that have reportedly been utilizing phishing and online auction scams to defraud consumers around the world.

Spammers use iPad craze to spread malware

Angela Moscaritolo April 06, 2010

Opportunistic cybercriminals again are capitalizing on consumers' interest in the newly released Apple iPad to spread malware, according to internet security vendor SonicWALL. Researchers on Monday discovered a spam campaign propagating malicious emails, which appear to have been sent from a friend, inviting recipients to join a review group for the iPad. Clicking a link contained in the message causes malware to be downloaded that sends additional messages to individuals in an infected user's email contact list, according to SonicWALL. — AM

Finding solutions for the problem of consumerization.

Michael Angelo, security architect, NetIQ February 17, 2010

Consumerization is the use of consumer targeted technology in the work environment. While it may not yet have reached fever pitch, there is a steady and growing awareness of the risks of a new trend in business computing: consumerization.

ID theft still on the rise, but victims respond faster

Dan Kaplan February 10, 2010

Incidents of identity fraud and the total cost of fraud once again climbed last year, but consumers are becoming better equipped to respond to the occurrences of theft, according to a report released Wednesday by Javelin Strategy & Research.

Financial services firm notifies 1.2 million of breach

Angela Moscaritolo January 19, 2010

Lincoln National Corp. (LNC), a Radnor, Pa.-based financial services organization, revealed early this month that a vulnerability in its portfolio information system could have caused the personal records of more than one million individuals to be inappropriately accessed.

Secure customer loyalty with the gift of data security

Brian Lapidus, chief operating officer, Kroll Fraud Solutions December 07, 2009

Retailers need to check their list twice to ensure the proper security measures are in place.

Zeus spreading through drive-by download

Angela Moscaritolo November 30, 2009

The Zeus trojan is using a new tactic to infect users' computers, security researchers are warning.

Experts expect exploits abound on Cyber Monday

Angela Moscaritolo November 25, 2009

Cybercriminals have already begun to ramp up their exploits in preparation for Cyber Monday, one of the busiest online shopping days of the year.

New Verizon Wireless-themed Zeus campaign hits

Angela Moscaritolo November 16, 2009

A wave of spam over the weekend, which appeared to come from Verizon Wireless, was instead propagating the information-stealing Zbot trojan.

N.Y. bank computer technician charged with ID theft

Angela Moscaritolo October 30, 2009

A New York computer technician has been charged with stealing the personal data of Bank of New York Mellon employees.

New ID theft rules may not pertain to small businesses

Angela Moscaritolo October 22, 2009

A new bill, passed unanimously by the U.S. House of Representatives this week, would exclude health care, accounting and legal firms with 20 or fewer employees from complying with the Red Flags Rules.

Survey: ID theft tops list of American's security concerns

Angela Moscaritolo October 20, 2009

Sixty-five percent of American respondents said they were "seriously concerned" about unauthorized access or misuse of their personal information, while 47 percent felt the same about H1N1.

Google to offer webmasters samples of malware code

Angela Moscaritolo October 15, 2009

A new feature from Google is designed to help website administrators identify malicious code on their sites.

Huge uptick in spam-borne malware since mid-September

Angela Moscaritolo October 07, 2009

The amount of the amount of spam containing malware increased ninefold during September over the previous month, according to Symantec.

Asprox botnet launches new wave of SQL injection

Angela Moscaritolo October 06, 2009

Researchers are not sure how many websites have been compromised but said new Asprox botnet attacks are underway.

Facebook cuts off accounts spreading rogue anti-virus

Dan Kaplan October 02, 2009

On the same day that the Internet Crime Complaint Center issued an alert on the ongoing dangers of social networking fraud, a computer security researcher reported on a new Facebook threat in which scores of fake member profiles were attempting to push rogue anti-virus programs.

Payroll services firm PayChoice breached

Angela Moscaritolo October 01, 2009

Attackers used information obtained from a breach to craft targeted messages aimed at persuading users to download an information-stealing trojan.

URLZone touted as most sophisticated banking trojan yet

Angela Moscaritolo September 30, 2009

The trojan not only retrieves banking credentials but also is directed to steal money from compromised accounts, often making it appear to the victim that it took less than it actually did.