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Meta
Top Web Scams of the Decade
Exploits involving Russian women, Nigerian scams and fake job offers top list of creative ploys used by cybercriminals
With 2010 drawing to a close, PandaLabs, Panda Security’s anti-malware laboratory, has released a ranking of the most widespread scams on the Web from the past 10 years. These include the infamous Nigerian scam, ploys involving beautiful foreign women and money mule schemes based on too-good-to-be-true job offers.
According to Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs, “As with all the classic scams that predate the Internet, many of the numerous users that fall for these tricks and lose their money are reticent to report the crime. If recovering the stolen money was difficult in the old days, it is even harder now because criminals’ tracks are often lost across the Web. The best defense is to learn how to identify these scams and avoid taking the bait.”
Typically, these scams follow a similar pattern: Cybercriminals make initial contact with their victim through e-mail or on a social network. The intended victim is then asked to respond by e-mail, telephone, fax or some other channel. Once the user takes the bait, the criminals will attempt to gain their victim’s trust, finding an excuse to ask for money.
The most frequent scams identified by PandaLabs over the last 10 years, based on their distribution and the frequency, are as follows: Read more
25 Percent of New Worms in 2010 Are Designed to Spread Through USB Devices
48 percent of SMBs worldwide are infected every year; one third of these infections are caused by worms that spread on USB devices
PandaLabs has discovered that in 2010, 25 percent of new worms have been specifically designed to spread through USB storage devices connected to computers. These types of threats can copy themselves to any device capable of storing information such as cell phones, external hard drives, DVDs, flash memories and MP3/4 players.
The data from Panda Security’s Second International SMB Security Barometer suggests that this distribution technique is highly effective. With survey responses from more than 10,470 companies across 20 countries, it was revealed that approximately 48 percent of SMBs (with up to 1,000 computers) admit to having been infected by some type of malware over the last year. As further proof, 27 percent confirmed that the source of the infection was a USB device connected to a computer.
According to Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs, “At present, much of the malware in circulation has been designed to distribute through these devices. Not only does it copy itself to these gadgets, but it also runs automatically when a USB device is connected to a computer, infecting the system practically transparently to the user. This has been the case with many infections we have seen this year, such as the distribution of the Mariposa and Vodafone botnets.”
So far, these types of infections are still outnumbered by those that spread via email, but it is a growing trend. “There are now so many devices on the market that can be connected via USB to a computer: digital cameras, cell phones, MP3 or MP4 players,” adds Corrons. “This is clearly very convenient for users, but since all these devices have memory cards or internal memory, it is feasible that your cell phone could be carrying a virus without your knowledge.” Read more
Panda Security’s Flagship Internet Security 2010 Takes Top Spot in AV-Test Report
Panda detected 100 percent of malware scanned in the AV-Test report in both private and ‘In the Wild’ virus lists
Panda Security announced that its flagship Panda Internet Security 2010 solution has been awarded the top spot by prestigious German testing laboratory AV-Test.org in its Q2 Product Review and Certification Report. Panda’s award-winning anti-virus solution also received AV-Test certification after surpassing all protection, cleaning and usability tests, as well as those designed to test the solutions’ ability to repair computers infected with malware.
Panda Internet Security 2010 achieved a high score of 5.5 out of 6 in the protection test, also achieving the same marks for cleaning and repairing computers infected with malware. The solution scored 5 out of 6 for usability.
In testing protection against malware infections, the most noteworthy results were the solution detecting 100 percent of samples in the malware batch used by AV-Test, as well as those from its ‘In the Wild’ list. In the detection of zero-day malware attacks on the Internet, including Web and e-mail threats, Panda Security scored 82, 89 and 74 percent respectively during the three test months. In dynamic detection testing, Panda detected 81 percent of the samples used, significantly higher than the industry average of 63 percent. These figures, higher than competitive product scores, can be attributed to Panda’s Collective Intelligence technology, which immediately detects both known and unknown malware samples and sends them to the cloud for classification, remediation and elimination.
Panda Internet Security 2010 also scored 100 percent in the detection and elimination of rootkits and hidden malware. In the section on cleaning and repairing computers infected with malware, Panda Security achieved 95 percent in the elimination of active malware components (according to the WildList), once again above the industry average. In the usability section, the impact ratio of the anti-virus on computer performance was 101 seconds, less than half the industry average of 251 seconds.
“These results illustrate the incredible capability of Panda’s Collective Intelligence detection system,” said Pedro Bustamante, senior research advisor at Panda Security. “More significantly, this detection power has no impact on users’ computers, since the scanning and the classification of malware takes place entirely in the cloud.” Read more
National High School Cyber Defense Competition Registering Teams for Fall
Exciting Education Initiative Offers Teens Insight to Cyber Careers
The registration deadline is looming to participate in the nation’s premier high school cyber defense competition, CyberPatriot III.
“Our unique online competition still has room for teams,” said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. “To join, a high school teacher signs up and signs on five bright students for a fun, hands-on learning opportunity. It’s a great chance for the top teams to win scholarship money and a trip to Washington, D.C.”
CyberPatriot, presented by Northrop Grumman, is the one-of-a-kind national cyber security competition produced by the Air Force Association (AFA), a nonprofit organization headquartered near Washington, D.C. The registration deadline is October 8, 2010.
Teams of five, with an approved coach (generally a teacher) sponsoring them, learn to defend a computer network from real-life computer threat scenarios. In the fall, hundreds of teams across the nation will square off online, using special software and programs provided by CyberPatriot, to competitively solve vulnerabilities in their network. The top teams then compete again in a series of online rounds to determine finalists for an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital and the Championship Round at the Gaylord National Convention Center, in conjunction with AFA’s Cyber Futures Symposium and Technology Exposition in April of 2011. Read more
SonicWALL Releases Mid-Year Assessment of Top Cybercrime Threats for 2010
Top threats exploit the increased corporate use of cloud computing, social networking, and use of Macs and smart phones for remote access
SonicWALLÂ released its mid-year summary of the top cybercrime trends for 2010. From July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010, the company tracked computer threats worldwide using its Global Response Intelligence Defense (GRID) network. The GRID contains millions of SonicWALL anti-spam and e-mail security servers located worldwide, to proactively protect networks from intrusions and malware attacks. Based on GRID data, SonicWALL identified the current and future top security threats, including intrusions, malware, antivirus and e-mail security breaches that consumers and institutions face.
“For nearly 20 years, we have tracked cybercrime and reliably protected our customers against the latest threats,” said Boris Yanovsky, vice president of software engineering at SonicWALL. “Each day, SonicWALL helps corporations stop over 3 million malware attempts, 400 million intrusions, and 400 million SPAM e-mails. We watched cybercrime shift from simple scams, such as phishing exploits, spoofing of organizations, worms and viruses, to more sophisticated attacks shutting down network servers and cloud-based systems affecting both companies and individuals. Our research is part of an ongoing mission to dynamically adapt our products and services to enhance security for our customers.” Read more