Phishing attacks take a new twist

Last modified: May 4, 2005, 7:07 PM PDT
By Alorie Gilbert, Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Phishers are increasingly using new methods to nab sensitive information from Internet users, according to data from Websense Security Labs.

In recent months, the researchers at security software company Websense detected a rise in schemes involving malicious programs known as keyloggers, according to the March phishing trends report released Wednesday by the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

The technology, which records the keystrokes of people using infected machines, could be designed to help phishers stay one step ahead of honest folk. In the past, attackers have relied mainly on e-mail messages that lure victims to malicious Web sites, where they are duped into disclosing logins and usernames for banking sites and other sensitive online accounts. The messages are typically spoofed to look like they come the bank or other trusted provider.

The keylogger programs are built specifically to capture login names and passwords for online bank accounts and to send them to the attackers, Websense Security Labs said. They typically exploit vulnerabilities in Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser program.

Each week in March and February, Websense uncovered as many as 10 new keylogger variants and more than 100 new Web sites set up to infect computers with them. That's up from November and December, when the company's researchers identified an average of one-to-two new variants and 10 to 15 Web sites per week.

People can infect their machines with keylogger programs in numerous ways, including opening bogus e-mail attachments, downloading programs online or simply visiting a fraudulent Web site.

Keylogger attacks are a particular problem in Brazil, where recent two schemes targeted more than 100,000 .br e-mail accounts, the report found. However, the machine that hosted the malicious code in one of the attacks was located in California.

Phishers have previously turned to instant messaging, faked news feeds and have preyed on people that mistype the Web addresses of popular online destinations, such as Google.

The United States is host to more phishing sites than any other country, followed by China and Korea, according to the APWG report. In March alone, people reported more than 13,000 phishing-scheme e-mails to the group.

From:   http://sympatico-msn-ca.com.com/Phishing+attacks+take+a+new+twist/2100-1029_3-5695874.html?tag=nl

Study: Keystroke spying on the rise

Last modified: November 15, 2005, 4:06 PM PST
By Alorie Gilbert, Staff Writer, CNET News.com

Keylogger programs that record passwords and other typed-in text are increasing, according to data from iDefense.

The programs are an increasingly popular tool among identity thieves, the security company said Tuesday. Reports to iDefense, and its own research, indicate that the number of keylogger variants unleashed this year is set to rise 65 percent over last year, reaching nearly 6,200 in total, the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Each variant could lead to anything from a few to several thousand infections, Ken Dunham, senior engineer at iDefense, said. Keylogger software typically tracks keystrokes on infected computers and is used to try to steal sensitive information such as user names and credit card data.

The biggest problem with keyloggers, which silently relay data to attackers, is that they often go undetected, easily slipping past firewalls and antivirus software, iDefense, a division of VeriSign, said.

"There are so many victims because so few know the risk or the early warning signs," Joe Payne, vice president of VeriSign iDefense Security Intelligence Services, said in a statement. "You simply can't stop what you can't see."

Early warning signs can include slow performance of a PC, a spike in pop-up messages and other problems.

Computers can become infected with keyloggers in a variety of ways, such as through downloading spyware or e-mail attachments, or through a visit to a chat room or simply to the wrong Web site. The programs typically exploit flaws in Web browser software, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer.

iDefense said keyloggers are typically spread by organized cybercrime rings, which have used them in the past to conduct large-scale money transfers to fund criminal activities. The programs have grown exponentially since 2001, when the firm detected just 275 of them.

From:   http://sympatico-msn-ca.com.com/Study:+Keystroke+spying+on+the+rise/2100-7349_3-5954242.html?part=sympatico-msn-ca&tag=feed_2516&subj=ns_5954242