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South Africa - Safe Harbor for Cyber Criminals’ Malicious Acts

As a result of a rise in broadband subscriptions and an increase in crimeware toolkits enabling new entrants in the cyber crime arena, South Africa now stands at 43rd position (earlier 50th position) in the listing of top nations as a target and source for malicious operations.

The latest Internet security report on worldwide cyber crime issued in the last week of April by a global security, storage and systems management solutions provider Symantec revealed the use of crimeware toolkits as one of the key trends.

As 2010 Soccer World Cup is nearing, experts are anticipating a considerable growth in cyber crime, with a large number of unwary users at the risk of falling prey to malicious virus attacks and Internet fraud.

As said by Gordon Love, Symantec's regional director for Africa, as a result of an increase in the uptake of broadband, and with the World Cup staging in two months, cyber criminals are particularly targeting South Africa to accomplish their malicious intentions, as per the news published by BUSINESSREPORT on April 29, 2010.

According to the experts, an increase in the access of broadband will facilitate malware and virus problem of Africa to go global. As now more users can speedily access the Web, huge chunks of data can be forwarded inward and outward. Users receiving more spam e-mails from the African fraudsters will just be the beginning.

As per the estimations of security experts, 80% of the computers in Africa are already malware or virus infected.

Furthermore, according to Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO of the leading anti-virus software provider, ESET Southern Africa, cyber crooks also keep a track on personal sensitive data like banking information and passwords. They then trade this data to an intricate network of creators, distributors and buyers. Besides, other ploys include concealing malware as Web links that offer considerable cost savings to the travelers buying tours, accommodations, airfare and tickets, as per the news published by Times LIVE on April 28, 2010.

As per the latest report by the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Centre, South Africa is currently at the seventh spot on the list of top 10 cyber crime perpetrators, with Cameroon recently joining the list at the ninth spot.

Related article: South Korea Becomes Infamous For Being World’s Fifth Spamme

» SPAMfighter News - 5/10/2010

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