Spam Reduced and Phishing Increased in H2- 2010

On February 14, 2011, M86 Security Labs came up with its recent report that provides details on its observation of harmful online activities during June 2010 - December 2010. The security firm stated a rise in phishing and reduction in spamming activities during H2 2010.

M86's vice president of technical strategy, Bradley Anstis, said that it is both good and bad. If the spam volume is observed, it's proved to be a real roller coaster, as reported by the GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY on February 14, 2010.

The report stated that probably the users have become more cautious of conventional fake e-mails claiming to have come from banking institutions. Thus, there was some new threat of websites offering 'multiple choice' from a selection of banks in phishing messages.

Spam, phishing, and malware activities observed by the lab followed the trends of the international global security. Several e-mails, infected websites, and harmful samples were examined and interrelated with the results of their investigation of the labs in terms of web exploits and security vulnerabilities.

M86 measures spam volume by a numeric index. The Company began measuring in 2006, assigning the volume at that time as 1,000. The spam volume doubled and touched 2,000 in 2008. At the end of June 2010, the volume index reached 10,000. The latest measurement of the company was less than 4,000.

Further, as per the security firm, phishing activity has been reducing extraordinarily as users have become more aware of fake e-mails. Unfortunately, the hackers have come up with some effective means of stealing banking details from users assessing authentic banking websites. malware and Trojans, such as Zeus and SpyEye are the common methods for hackers to steal financial and private information.

Anstis added that users must be made aware and trained about all the advanced phishing attacks and the latest activities that are taking place through social media websites, as reported by the GOVERNMENT TECHNOLOGY, on February 14, 2011.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 2/23/2011