Hackers are exploiting the controversy surrounding illegal downloading in a bid to steal credit card details from web users, says F-Secure.
The security vendor has identified a Trojan that attempts to get PC users to believe an 'Antipiracy foundation scanner' has found illegal torrents on the system.
The warnings reappear every time the user reboots their system and encourage them to fork out $400 (£259) to ICPP Foundation in a "pre-trial settlement" to cover a "copyright holder fine".
It also claims refusal to pay the fine could result in a jail sentence.
The Trojan's warnings echoes genuine letters sent by law firms on behalf of copyright holders. The letters claim the recipient's internet connection has been used to illegally download music, movies or games and as result they will be required to pay a fine.
However, F-Secure says there is no ICPP Foundation, despite the group behind the Trojan setting up an official-looking website with the URL www.icpp-online.com, and the messages will appear even if the system contains no illegal material whatsoever.
Furthermore, for those that do attempt to pay the fine there is no obvious credit-card payment system connected to the site. F-Secure said the criminals behind the scam just seem to collect the credit card information.
"Refuse to pay money to these clowns! If people pay them, the problem will only grow bigger," says the security vendor.
F-Secure revealed that the domain is registered to Mr Shoen Overns' with a contact email of ovenersbox@yahoo.com.
The security vendor said the email address has been seen before in various other domains, connected to Zeus and Koobface scams.
"The gang behind this attack already has large botnets at their disposal. We assume they've simply uploaded this malicious application to the bots they already control," said Mikko H Hypponen, chief research officer at F-Secure
"People know that movie studios and record labels are playing hardball against pirates. This might actually make some users fall for this scam".
F-Secure advised web users that have been infected with the Trojan to use an antivirus programme to detect and remove it immediately
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Beware of Social Networking Sites
Social networking sites such as Facebook not only offer a whole new world of opportunities, but also open up dangers, according to executives at the Computerworld Security Forum in Malaysia last week.
With 400 million users, Facebook is one of the most popular social applications in the world. These tools are created to allow people to share and meet online, according to Joe Lim, country lead, e-Cop.
But over half a billion people on various social networks have made available a massive amount of personal information on them. It is possible for third parties to obtain these private data, via applications installed on the social network sites such as games and social interaction tools. For instance, "Facebook alone has over 55,000 external applications," said Lim.
The Sophos Security Threat Report 2010 identified that 57 per cent of social networking users report being hit by spam -- an increase of 70.6 per cent compared to a year ago, according to Che Mun Foong, channel manager, Malaysia, Sophos. Meanwhile, the study said that 30 per cent encountered phishing attacks, a jump of 42.9 per cent from the year before.
Answering a question from a conference attendee on whether Facebook should be banned from the office environment, Alex Ng, product manager, Southeast Asia, Kaspersky Lab, said stopping Facebook in the workplace "means effectively challenging your users to do something else" to access the tool. "When there are credit fraud cases, does it mean we have to ban the bank or stop using the card?" added e-Cop's Lim.
To minimise the risks of losing one's data when using these social networking sites, Kaspersky Lab's Ng suggested that for sites such as Facebook, create a bookmark for the log-in page, or type the URL directly into the browser address bar, avoid clicking on links in e-mail messages, and only type in confidential data on secure websites. Awareness of the latest malware and phishing attacks also helps prevent users from falling into the same traps, said e-Cop's
With 400 million users, Facebook is one of the most popular social applications in the world. These tools are created to allow people to share and meet online, according to Joe Lim, country lead, e-Cop.
But over half a billion people on various social networks have made available a massive amount of personal information on them. It is possible for third parties to obtain these private data, via applications installed on the social network sites such as games and social interaction tools. For instance, "Facebook alone has over 55,000 external applications," said Lim.
The Sophos Security Threat Report 2010 identified that 57 per cent of social networking users report being hit by spam -- an increase of 70.6 per cent compared to a year ago, according to Che Mun Foong, channel manager, Malaysia, Sophos. Meanwhile, the study said that 30 per cent encountered phishing attacks, a jump of 42.9 per cent from the year before.
Answering a question from a conference attendee on whether Facebook should be banned from the office environment, Alex Ng, product manager, Southeast Asia, Kaspersky Lab, said stopping Facebook in the workplace "means effectively challenging your users to do something else" to access the tool. "When there are credit fraud cases, does it mean we have to ban the bank or stop using the card?" added e-Cop's Lim.
To minimise the risks of losing one's data when using these social networking sites, Kaspersky Lab's Ng suggested that for sites such as Facebook, create a bookmark for the log-in page, or type the URL directly into the browser address bar, avoid clicking on links in e-mail messages, and only type in confidential data on secure websites. Awareness of the latest malware and phishing attacks also helps prevent users from falling into the same traps, said e-Cop's
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