Phishing – Page 8

IRS Issues Phishing Warning

Today the IRS issued Tax Tip 2012-08 warning about phishing attacks. We reproduce it here as a public service. Don’t be Scammed by Cyber Criminals IRS TAX TIP 2012-08, January 12, 2012The Internal Revenue Service receives thousands of reports each year from taxpayers who receive suspicious emails, phone calls, faxes or notices claiming to be from the IRS. Many of these scams fraudulently use the IRS name or logo as a lure to make the communication appear more authentic and enticing. The goal of these scams – known as phishing – is to trick you into revealing your personal and [...]

iconixtruemark2018-04-05T12:11:35-04:00January 12th, 2012|Phishing|

Apple Phishing Scam Alert

CNET is warning about a phishing scam in which the bad guys are sending emails that are fake billing error notices from Apple. CNET reports that unlike other Apple phishing scams, in this scam the bad guys have created a reasonably convincing fake. The grammar and spelling are correct and the message is formatted to look like a real Apple message. The email address that is displayed looks like it could be from Apple -- "appleid@id.apple.com." However, it isn't real. Following the links will land at a fake Apple website that also looks pretty convincing. The fake Apple website requests your [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:24-05:00December 29th, 2011|Consumers and Email, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing|

2012 Cyberattacks Predicted by IID

IID has released its predictions of the big cyberattacks for 2012. Of the 5 predicted cyberthreats, 4 depend upon phishing scams for their evil success. Here's the IID predictions: 1) Phishing - London Summer Olympics cyber attacks — Cybercriminals will try to capitalize on the Olympics by tricking people into installing malware with phishing scams impersonating the Summer Olympics official website and/or official Summer Olympics vendors. Once malware is on a victim's computer, the miscreants can monitor or control both personal and business computer activity — enabling them to steal data, send spam, and commit fraud. 2) Phishing - Elections altered — [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-09T15:34:20-05:00December 23rd, 2011|Consumers and Email, Phishing, spear phishing|

FBI Denver Cyber Squad Warns of New Phishing Campaign

The FBI Denver Cyber Squad issued the following warning on November 23, 2011: With the holiday shopping season upon us, the FBI Denver Cyber Squad would like to advise citizens of a new spear phishing campaign involving personal and business bank accounts, financial institutions, money mules, and jewelry stores. The campaign involves a variant of the “Zeus” malware called “Gameover.” The spam campaign is pretending to be legitimate e-mails from the National Automated Clearing House Association (NACHA), advising the user there was problem with the ACH transaction at their bank and it was not processed. Once they click on the [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:24-05:00December 2nd, 2011|Consumers and Email, Phishing|

Phishers Use Cyber Monday for Scams

Computerworld reports that cybercriminals are using phishing scams to rip-off consumers during this holiday shopping season. The bad guys are using spoofing legitimate messages from real companies in order to deceive consumers. The criminals are sending fake shipping confirmations, fake Groupon and Living Social offers and fake social traffic. A common scam is a fake email about problems with a transaction, such as a delivery problem, a canceled order or direct deposit. Cloudmark has reproduced this example of a fake UPS email: Computerworld quotes Cloudmark engineering director Angela Knox about details of the UPS-based phishing scam. This phishing scam lures [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:25-05:00November 29th, 2011|Consumers and Email, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing|

Xbox Live Phishing Scam — Microsoft Reimburses Ripped-off Users

The Guardian is reporting that Microsoft is giving refunds to Xbox Live subscribers who may have had their credit card information stolen in a phishing scam. The Guardian describes the scam in its November 22, 2011 edition: Reports are proliferating of Xbox Live users checking the credit card and bank account statements which they use to pay their Xbox Live subscriptions, and discovering payments which they did not make, generally over a period of months, which were used to buy Microsoft Points (the service's currency which enables users to purchase extra downloadable content, games and in-game objects) which were [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:25-05:00November 25th, 2011|Consumers and Email, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing|

CYBER SECURITY AWARENESS MONTH FAILS TO DETER PHISHERS – RSA

RSA's recently released report Cyber Security Awareness Month Fails to Deter Phishers explains that despite efforts to increase awareness and fight phishing, deceptive emails continue to be a major problem. Sometimes viewed as one of the oldest scams in the book, phishing is still a very popular method among cybercriminals. RSA recently estimated that worldwide losses from phishing attacks alone during H1 2011 amounted to over $520 million, and losses incurred from phishing attacks during the 12-month period of H2 2010 through H1 2011 reached nearly $1 billion. RSA shows the recent growth of phishing: You should use the latest version [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:25-05:00November 17th, 2011|Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing|

SEC Issues Guidance on Cyber Risk Disclosure

On October 13, 2011, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued formal guidance on how U.S. publicly traded companies should disclose cybersecurity risks and data exposure. In the guidance, the SEC states: Depending on the registrant’s particular facts and circumstances, and to the extent material, appropriate disclosures may include: Discussion of aspects of the registrant’s business or operations that give rise to material cybersecurity risks and the potential costs and consequences; To the extent the registrant outsources functions that have material cybersecurity risks, description of those functions and how the registrant addresses those risks; Description of cyber incidents experienced [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:25-05:00October 19th, 2011|Consumers and Email, Iconix Truemark Service, Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

IBM X-Force® 2011 – Mid-year Trend and Risk Report

IBM has just released its IBM X-Force® 2011 - Mid-year Trend and Risk Report. The IBM Press Release provides a good summary of the 92 page report. For those of us who are interested in phishing and spearphishing, IBM's report provides some interesting insights. The report draws a clear distinction between phishing and spearphishing. The report reminds us that while the terms are similar, the schemes are vastly different. In phishing, the bad guy is playing a game of numbers: Phishing derives its name from the analogy of fishing in a large lake. You cast your line into that lake and [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:25-05:00October 13th, 2011|Phishing, SP Guard, spear phishing|

The Security Threat of Social Engineering

Check Point just released a survey conducted by Dimensional Research about the security threat posed by social engineering. The survey found: The threat of technology-based security attacks is well understood, and IT organizations have tools and processes in place to manage this risk to sensitive corporate data. However, social engineering attacks are more challenging to manage since they depend on human behavior and involve taking advantage of vulnerable employees. The survey found that breaches initiated by social engineering attacks were costly, particularly to large organizations: 48% of large companies and 32% of companies of all sizes have experienced 25 or [...]

iconixtruemark2017-01-07T17:35:26-05:00September 23rd, 2011|Phishing, spear phishing|