Criminals Stealing User Credentials Target Facebook

Blue Coat the security vendor, on July 6, 2011, released its "2011 Mid-Year Security Report" wherein it describes fresh assaults targeting Facebook. The Times of India published this in news on July 6, 2011.

Explains Blue Coat, by disseminating malicious software on Facebook, Internet fraudsters are silently capturing users' passwords at the time the latter log in for personal profiles as well as bank accounts. This method eventually helps the miscreants to seize users' credentials and money.

Says systems engineering manager Greg Singh of Blue Coat, it isn't new to have malware infections; however, they're getting increasingly sophisticated. Criminals are attacking websites for social networking in a way that profile login particulars become a priced product amongst malware purveyors, he adds. Herald Sun published this in news on July 6, 2011.

Mr. Singh further says that during the past, Web-surfers used to become infected with the above kind of malware usually when they traversed the Internet's grey areas such as while doing online searches for non-chargeable computer applications that often became available on gambling or pornography websites. Herald Sun published this on July 6, 2011.

The security vendor reported that when cyber-thieves gained access to users' profile pages on any social network, they put up web-links that channeled those users' followers onto malware contaminated websites, which potentially affected a huge number of users every time. The crime gangs, which filched the said kind of information, thereafter sold the data to entities which aimed at stealing the victims' cash.

Significantly, the area where these networks currently thrive is Eastern Europe, especially Moldova, Ukraine and Russia, however, their operations are based on worldwide stolen infrastructure that make tracking down pretty difficult, Mr. Singh says. Herald Sun published this on July 6, 2011.

Moreover, Blue Coat's report as well analyzes the location and method through which Internet users are connected with networks delivering malware. Notably, during H1-2011 i.e. January-June 2011, the most widely used medium for spreading malware was poisoned search engine results. Actually, Web-surfers place greater faith on the search results with highest rankings; consequently they're less likely for being careful while visiting those URLs.

Related article: Criminals Hack With More Evil Tactics

» SPAMfighter News - 7/11/2011