Cyber criminals tapping networking sites
Most routine crimes involve money. Did you know that 78% of online attacks have a financial component , with a majority including a keystroke logger, software which sits in your computer and steals personal data?
By A T Subrahmanya, TNN |
NEW YORK: Most routine crimes involve money. Did you know that 78% of online attacks have a financial component , with a majority including a keystroke logger, software which sits in your computer and steals personal data?
Cyber crime is now no more limited to password hacking, but thriving on a major worldwide black market with an underground cyber crime economy with credit cards being the primary target.
According to Symantec, a major storage and online security management company , it had blocked an average of more than 245 million malicious code attack attempts across the globe every month in 2008. Despite all the security measures, nearly 7 million people were tricked into giving personal information to cyber criminals over the past two years.
Phony emails, fake websites and online ads conned users into divulging personal data which were exchanged and sold between organized cyber criminals.
In its approach to online security, Symantec announced new versions of its security product, Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton Anti Virus 2010. According to Symantec, Norton IS and AV 2010 leverage a new model of security, code-named Quorum, using cloud-based intelligence technology which is advanced beyond the traditional and behaviour-based detection.
Increasingly, cyber criminals are turning to social networking sites which are hugely popular with youth worldwide. An unknown link or a fake link which appears to be from a friend is often used as a phishing bite to install a Trojan virus to attack the host computer.
At the launch of its new anti-virus systems, Kashima Brown, a victim of the personal identification theft, explained she had just clicked a link from a friend on a social networking site. Soon, she was getting calls from friends asking about her health and whereabouts. Cyber criminals had used her personal information to send email to her friends that she was stranded and needed money and given their bank link. They had also hacked into her bank account.
Cyber crime is now no more limited to password hacking, but thriving on a major worldwide black market with an underground cyber crime economy with credit cards being the primary target.
According to Symantec, a major storage and online security management company , it had blocked an average of more than 245 million malicious code attack attempts across the globe every month in 2008. Despite all the security measures, nearly 7 million people were tricked into giving personal information to cyber criminals over the past two years.
Phony emails, fake websites and online ads conned users into divulging personal data which were exchanged and sold between organized cyber criminals.
In its approach to online security, Symantec announced new versions of its security product, Norton Internet Security 2010 and Norton Anti Virus 2010. According to Symantec, Norton IS and AV 2010 leverage a new model of security, code-named Quorum, using cloud-based intelligence technology which is advanced beyond the traditional and behaviour-based detection.
Increasingly, cyber criminals are turning to social networking sites which are hugely popular with youth worldwide. An unknown link or a fake link which appears to be from a friend is often used as a phishing bite to install a Trojan virus to attack the host computer.
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At the launch of its new anti-virus systems, Kashima Brown, a victim of the personal identification theft, explained she had just clicked a link from a friend on a social networking site. Soon, she was getting calls from friends asking about her health and whereabouts. Cyber criminals had used her personal information to send email to her friends that she was stranded and needed money and given their bank link. They had also hacked into her bank account.
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