Phishing attacks that affected customers of Microsoft’s Hotmail Monday have compromised more than 30,000 email accounts, including those of Gmail, Yahoo Mail and other services.
Microsoft blamed phishing, in which cybercriminals try to trick consumers into revealing personal information through fraudulent emails, for a list of Hotmail account passwords that appeared online.
Microsoft says a phishing scheme is behind the exposure of passwords to thousands of Hotmail accounts late last week and adds that it’s helping affected customers regain control of their accounts.
On Monday, the Neowin technology blog posted a story saying that an anonymous user on Oct. 1 had uploaded a list with password details of more than 10,000 Hotmail accounts to a Web site called pastebin.com, where developers typically share programming code with each other.
Phishing attacks seem to have become a regular hazard for Twitter and Facebook users, and lots of people are falling for them.
The latest phishing scam on Facebook has raised the question yet again as to whether the social-networking site is dropping the ball on security measures and properly responding to privacy complaints.
Facebook faced consumer fraud charges in 2007 for allegedly responding too slowly to user complaints about harassment, pornography or nudity from the social-networking site. The probe into the company’s safety procedures by New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo resulted in a settlement requirement that Facebook respond to such complaints within 24 hours.
You might be familiar with phishing attacks, those messages sent by criminals that look like they’re from a bank or Nigerian prince. But what about Twishing?
The term may enter the tech lexicon this week, thanks to an attack targeting the Web site Twitter, which runs a popular service that lets people share short updates about what they’re doing.
Newsweek is reporting that computer networks of both the Obama and McCain campaigns were the targets of a sophisticated cyberattack in the run-up to the general election and, in the Obama case, “a serious amount of files” were downloaded from the system.
Computer security professionals say many net forums are populated by teenagers swapping credit card numbers, phishing kits and hacking tips. The poor technical skills of many young hackers means they are very likely to get caught and arrested, they say.
Here’s the latest sign that businesses are losing the tech security fight: The bad guys are starting to steal from one another.
That could sound like a good thing–better that hackers and other cyber criminals squabble amongst themselves than attack innocent businesses and consumers–but it really isn’t.
Of all the methods scammers use when hunting for victims, phishing is one of the most difficult to guard against. Phishing attacks are designed to exploit societal vulnerabilities more than technical flaws, and, in some cases, are extremely difficult to block. Even the best anti-malware software suite can’t stop an end user from willingly revealing personal information, particularly if the Web site being used to collect the data doesn’t trip any high-alert security alarms.
The Federal Trade Commission has taken an interest in educating consumers on the dangers of phishing. To that end, the government organization has prepared three separate 60-second videos on the ways and scenarios a consumer might possibly encounter a phisher.
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