Phishing Scam Targets Trend Micro

Phishers have recently launched an e-mail campaign in which they masqueraded themselves as Trend Micro. They (phishers) exploited the company's newsletter to target victims. Moreover, the exploited newsletter had appeared in PC World during September 2009.

The campaign has been intercepted by security analysts and investigation is underway. Details of the attack disclose that Trend Micro's threat analysts encountered a spam mail having the caption "Malware Blocking Tests put Trend Micro on Top," while its text informed recipients how Trend Micro carried out the NSS Labs experiments that yielded the company the most optimum outcomes.

Menard Osena, Solution Product Manager at Trend, explains that the attack used an apparently authentic (or genuine) URL phishing technique in which the cyber criminals imitated Trend Micro's URL so that they could capture user information without changing the domain name - trndmcro.com, as reported by Softpedia on November 24, 2009.

Osena writes that the e-mails use a well crafted socially engineered malicious program. In fact, their web-links divert users to a fraudulent website designed for phishing.

These kinds of attacks show how online miscreants seem to be imitating genuine news publications and agencies in increasing instances. Attacks, which attempt to abuse different subjects to draw the public's attention, are now a commonplace.

Additionally, the new phishing attack suggests that users should always use up-to-date and competent security software that blocks phishing attempts. It is not always enough to have conventional anti-spam filters for effective security defenses against such attacks, advised Trend Micro security specialists.

Furthermore, the attack should serve as a reminder to all computer users that it is important to remain on guard, exercise caution as well as ensure that the e-mails coming to them should be from legitimate websites instead of those for phishing.

Thus, it's indeed awkward to see security providers such as Trend Micro fall to cyber assaults, which they actually strive to prevent. In another incident took place in March 2008, the firm had been likewise trapped in a large scale website attack that reportedly scattered malware. Security company, Computer Associates, also faced a malware attack against its website back in January same year.

Related article: Phishing With A Redirector Code

» SPAMfighter News - 12/4/2009