Cyber-Criminals take Advantage of Nepal’s Recent Earthquake

According to a warning by DHS (Department of Homeland Security) of United States, Internet fraudsters are exploiting Nepal's recent terrible earthquake for diverting Web-surfers onto fake sites, published thehill.com dated April 30, 2015.

It may be noted that on April 25, 2015, a Saturday, Nepal was hit with one dreadful earthquake that believably took the lives of over 7,000 people while injuring more than 14,000. The calamity resulted in landslides and avalanches in addition to aftershocks.

According to US-CERT (United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team), phishing e-mails are circulating which can insert malware onto an end-user's PC in case the person pulls down a fake attachment else follows any bad link.

Incidentally, phishing e-mails along with similar online sites asking people to donate through bogus charitable organizations ordinarily floated online following the above kind of natural calamities, US-CERT said.

The office also advised people who wished for ensuring the veracity of unfamiliar electronic mails regarding the earthquake to go through guidelines by FTC (Federal Trade Commission) about fraudulent charities while necessarily run anti-virus programs that are up to date.

Internauts receiving the e-mails must eschew opening attachments else following web-links as they could prove perilous.

Remarking in connection with the same problem, CEO/CTO and Founder Joe Caruso of GDF (Global Digital Forensics), a New York City based high-profile cyber security measures provider stated that it only took a single efficacious phishing e-mail to compromise a whole network. Virtual-strategy.com reported this in news on May 2, 2015.

Caruso explained that the general public tended towards becoming less protective whenever they encountered with any disastrous event that wrenched the heart. Consequently, all the above kind of e-mails began appearing citing fake aid groups and charities whenever one natural calamity occurred. The messages cashed in on people's instinctive kindness for serving their own deceitful purposes, the expert added.

In the end, it can be said that such incidents outline how phishing e-mails work to be most efficacious as well as frequently-used means of Internet assault. The messages exploit recipients' innate faith resulting in them opening harmful attachments and/or web-links that install malware onto their PCs.

» SPAMfighter News - 5/7/2015