Spammers Spinning a Web of Deceit

Nowadays, junk e-mails have turned into a facade for cyber criminals to perform malevolent activities. With more and more firms are relying on the Internet to perform their services, there has been an upsurge in spamming attacks by cyber criminals, said the Malaysian Computer Emergency Response Team (MyCERT).

According to security researchers, with the advent of any new technology, there are people who try to use it for malicious activities. Conmen, spammers, phishers and other cyber criminals who thronged the cyber world are responsible for the downside of the Internet that has seen fast growth in past few years.

The Q3 report of MyCERT has revealed that spam-linked attacks surged by 26.73% to 20,963 against 16,542 in Q2. MyCERT further said that the incidences of fraud rose from 206 in Q2 to 260 in Q3, an increase of 26.21%.

As per security analysts, the staffs' message boxes were also hacked and this could entail huge financial losses to big organizations on account of hours lost in removing junk e-mail. Regular users of e-mail or Internet services such as online banking are the usual targets of spam e-mails.

Unsolicited e-mails attract people by offering goods/services such as discounted products, job openings, competitions and lottery prizes. However, only the innocent people are victimized by junk e-mails, a facade for malevolent activities of cyber punks. Today, security risks have included varieties of attacks such as Clickjacking, malicious software, spam, Trojans, and viruses.

But security systems have also progressed from simple antivirus software to wide-ranging online security solutions like encryption, improved spam filtering, antiviruses for cell phones and much more.

However, security managers should take into account the varying nature of assaults and devise their strategies correspondingly to tackle cyber fraud which could be hidden in the dubious e-mails and Internet sites, said security experts.

In spite of the increasing spam and phishing menaces in Malaysia, security analysts maintained that the demand for online banking services was not expected to slow down. As Internet-related services have become the backbone of several industries, particularly the banking segment, it has become additional means to improve client relationship.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 1/17/2009