Lots of news on phishing and spam these days — although Consumer Reports says there are less people falling prey to various online crimes, there are still grave risks. In this issue we touch on : * A new fake CNN mail scam 8 new statistics $8.5 BILLION lost to online threats * Online crime leveraging the Beijing Olympics * a new Xbox phishing scam * and Consumer Reports’ latest story urges Mac users to dump Safari
Fake CNN mail scam
For the past several days we’ve been trapping dozens and dozens of “fake” news bursts, supposedly from CNN. Managed security services provider MX Logic (mxlogic.com) has identified this as a new, high-volume phony email containing malware.
Your subject line will say something like this: “CNN.com Daily Top 10.” MX Logic found over 80 million messages sent in the 24 hour period on Tuesday when it was first discovered.
$8.5 BILLION lost to online threats
Consumer Reports sez:
Spyware accounts for $3.6 B in losses; 2.1 million computers replaced due to malware
September issue features latest ratings of security software
Protect yourself online The biggest threats & the best solutions
Phishing attack hits the Beijing Olympics
Ticket buyers bilked of cash
Phishers have struck at the Beijing Olympics and may have bilked ticket buyers out of thousands of dollars. The phishers picked a URL very close to the official address and put up a convincing looking site offering tickets. There visitors were told to call a phone number to get the entry code for the site, which would have provided another income stream for the phishers.
Iain Thomson for www.vnunet.com
Spammers Leverage Interest in Olympics
Public interest in the Olympic Games is helping spammers, who are using text related to the games in e-mails to get users to click through to their malware and phishing Web sites, or to go to product sites, according to an executive at Symantec.
The links may take users to phishing sites or sites dispensing malware
PC World - USA
Dump Safari sez CR
Consumer Reports urges Mac users to dump Safari, cites lack of phishing protection
The 2008 edition of Consumer Reports’ “State of the Net” report, advises that a common security mistake is “thinking your Mac shields you from all risks”, and that due to Safari’s lack of built-in phishing protection Mac users are urged to switch to Firefox or Opera
This is not the first time Apple’s Safari has been criticized for lacking built-in phishing protection, and definitely not the last.
Dancho Danchev blogs.zdnet.com
protect-yourself-online www.consumerreports.org
Xbox phishing scam
Just a quick note to inform you of a new ‘phishing’ scam that is currently doing the rounds on Xbox live.
The message, which may appear in your inbox, tells readers that they can get 1,600 free Microsoft points by visiting a specific website. They can’t, it’s a scam.
