Hackers, Phishers & Other Cybercriminals Get Active in Summer

An online security vendor 'Trend Micro' states that online security risks should be checked carefully this summer (2009), as cyber criminals, like malware suppliers and phishers, will try to take advantage of users who are looking forward to enjoy their holidays in every possible manner.

Trend Micro's security experts have said that the most malevolent danger is social networking. As the summer witnesses the time when web users want to connect to their family members and friends across the globe through social networking websites, it is a famous platform for cyber attackers, mainly phishers to hack accounts, to steal identities and devise tailored scams.

David Sancho, Senior AV Researcher at TrendLabs, states that details assembled via phishing attacks are very precious to attackers. There is not just a flourishing market for mail addresses that can be used by hackers, and which are usually sold in bunches of thousands, but also when login information is added to the situation, the monetary possibilities are reached to an all together different level, as reported by BUSINESS24-7.AE on August 10, 2009.

Security experts at TrendLabs further add that high traffic sites such as those of travel agents, hotels, shopping sites (which lure people in the last minute deals) are preferred by cyber attackers during summer. Hijacking the sites and leaving harmful code to redirect users from an original websites to bad ones can easily be done by malware suppliers and hackers.

Cyber criminals such as malware suppliers are increasingly making poised search results associated with the fresh news and gossip for directing users to harmful sites as they are aware that spicy rumors are famous searches of web users.

In addition, students are the preferred target for attackers in summer. Enticing them to click on links to phony news reports or videos to infect their systems with virus becomes very frequent in summer. A new example of this as given by security experts at Trend Micro is-"Solar Eclipse 2009 in America"- which results in systems attacked with scareware or FAKEAV.

Trend Micro experts inform that summer is the time for some big-budget movies to release. Clever cyber attackers are observing this style and this leads to sharing and installing movie files loaded with malware.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 8/27/2009