Cyber Criminals Spreading Trojan & Viruses Via New Year E-cards

Although few days have already gone by since the celebration of New Year, people are still sending gifts and e-cards to their friends and relatives but security researchers have warned that shopping online to buy New Year presents or hitting the New Year e-greeting cards could be traps of actually cyber criminals for stealing people's money.

Therefore, users should remain vigilant since cyber criminals are using fresh web-threats involving viruses, scams and spam to ensnare unwitting Web surfers.

Hackers employ the best of their ploys during vacations for robbing people off their net-banking details, credit cards and money. These thieves by exploiting seasonal events, set up holiday-related e-mails and convincing websites to deceive even the most Internet savvy users, state the researchers.

Speaking to PTI, Roger Thompson, Chief Research Officer of AVG Technologies, said that the New Year period saw a surge in phishing and spam attacks since more-and-more individuals visited the Net to send e-cards, do shopping or just surf. By exploiting such increased online traffic, cyber criminals sent spam, or poisoned search engine results so that victims became attracted to their maliciously designed websites, he explained, as reported by DNA on December 28, 2009.

Thompson further said that as the New Year approached, shoppers frequently missed checking if the websites they browsed were genuine. Some websites that posed to offer extremely inexpensive gifts actually were short-lived for a couple of weeks.

A spokesman representing Microsoft, the giant software maker, has stated that as the holiday time arrives, Internet usage and online shopping increase in large magnitudes. Simultaneously, the Web-based threats also become manifold, he adds.

Further, many Internet users have already received fake e-mails supposedly from branded companies like McDonald's, Coca-Cola and Hallmark. Fraudulent bank e-mails are also being distributed stating that the recipient needs to provide the latest personal information as his bank is upgrading its security system in New Year.

Hence, prior to entering personal information into a website, a consumer should ensure that his credit card number, telephone number and address are asked only for accomplishing the purchase. He should be particularly careful of websites that solicit his bank account details, the maiden name of his mother, etc., Thompson suggests.

Related article: Cyber Child abuser Sentenced To Imprisonment

» SPAMfighter News - 1/8/2010