Phishing and malware criminals flock to natural disasters and celebrities… but that’s not all — here’s our cybercrime update for this week . . .
* Avoid Japanese earthquake phishing scams
* Earthquake and tsunami breed web scams, malware
* Charlie Sheen death hoax spreads malware through Facebook
* Facebook email address phishing scam spreading
* FTC Files First Large-Scale SMS Spam Case
* FBI Warns of Three Online Scams: Sex, Taxes and a Desktop Hi-Jack
* Malware attacks double as cybercriminals get smarter
* Google’s Android security tool gets spoofed by malware
* 5 ways to protect your Android phone from malware
* Anti-virus software is not stopping many malware threats…
Avoid Japanese earthquake phishing scams
Cybercrooks drool over natural disasters, so be smart when giving donation … In the wake of the devastating 8.9-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan Friday, the global online community is banding together to offer support and donations through charities’ websites such as the Red Cross.
Unfortunately, as with any significant issue that attracts widespread attention, online scammers are likely to put their dirty hands in the pot and create their own fraudulent donation sites to profit on your sense of civic duty. Here are a few ways to make sure your charitable donation reaches the right people and doesn’t leave you victimized. 
Full story : www.msnbc.msn.com
Earthquake and tsunami breed web scams, malware
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake and deadly tsunami in Japan also has triggered a tidal wave of cybercrime, say experts.
Almost immediately after the news broke, internet fraudsters got to work by customizing their malicious websites so they would rank near the top of search results, a process known as black hat search engine optimization. The sites purportedly featured information about the quake but actually had been booby-trapped with malware, such as rogue anti-virus programs. Full story : Dan Kaplan – www.scmagazineus.com
Charlie Sheen death hoax spreads malware through Facebook
Several similar headlines have been spreading around Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter. They begin with “RIP!” or “Breaking News” and contain text to the effect that actor Charlie Sheen has died in his house or due to cardiac arrest.
Clicking on these links takes the user to a fake YouTube-clone page, where any click on any part of the screen will begin spreading the scam on the user’s own Facebook profile. Then, the user is asked to complete a survey before viewing the video, which adds a lead-gen layer to the click-jacking scheme. Finally, some folks are reporting being infected with malware after visiting the site, as well. Full story : content.usatoday.com
Facebook email address phishing scam spreading
There is a new scam making the rounds on Facebook today. This particular scam is surrounding Facebook’s recently revamped Messaging product, which now gives Facebook users an opportunity to own a @facebook.com e-mail address.
In the past, there were scams surrounding the launch of this product, which followed in the footsteps of similar Facebook scams: requiring Facebook users to authorize a rogue application, fill out a survey to earn the scammers referral money, and at the end, users would be redirected to http://facebook.com/about/messages Full story : Satnam Narang – labs.m86security.com
FTC Files First Large-Scale SMS Spam Case
In the first large-scale filing of its kind, the FTC is suing an alleged spammer accused of sending millions of SMS messages to non-subscribed users.
The lawsuit, filed late last month in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, alleges that the spammer, Phillip Flora, sent millions of unsolicited text messages to consumers advertising loan modification and debt-relief programs. In one 40-day period starting in August of 2009, Flora allegedly sent 5.5 million such messages. In addition, Flora sent millions of unsolicited email messages to consumers promoting his deceptive ‘SMS marketing services.’ Full story : mobilemarketingwatch.com
FBI Warns of Three Online Scams: Sex, Taxes and a Desktop Hi-Jack
Making a list of federal scam alerts this week is a fraudulent dating site; a phishing email that claims your federal tax payment has been rejected; and a bogus virus-removal service that allows criminals to hijack your computer.
The alerts by the IC3, a partnership between the FBI and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C), reflect recent cyber-crime trends and new takes on existing online scams. Filed under: Technology, Fraud, Identity Theft, Consumer Ally Full story : Jorgen Wouters – walletpop.com
Malware attacks double as cybercriminals get smarter
There has been a significant rise in the number of malware and “malvertising” attacks recorded in the last year as cybercriminals move to target social media networks. More than one million websites were estimated to be infected by malware infections in Q4 2010, a figure that is almost double the number of infected websites recorded in Q4 2009.
“The probability that an average Internet user will hit an infected page after three months of web browsing is 95%;” said web security company Dasient in a March 7 blog post. Full story : www.independent.co.uk
Google’s Android security tool gets spoofed by malware
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Google has found its Android Market Security Tool spoofed to include a variant of the Trojan that it was supposed to detect.
Google’s Android Market Security Tool was released to combat the ‘Droid Dream’ Trojan that would send private information to a remote server, however a slightly modified version of the application has appeared on a third party Android Market. Sophos detected the backdoor Trojan as Troj/Bgserv-A and says it operates in a manner similar to that of its predecessor. Full story : Lawrence Latif – theinquirer.net
5 ways to protect your Android phone from malware
As most of you by now know, last week the Android Market, the official store for applications on Android mobile devices, withdrew a number of apps that had been reported as harmful.
Why is Android encountering challenges where the iPhone isn’t? Apps available for download on the Android Market aren’t screened as stringently as they are on other public stores such as Apple’s. The policy is in keeping with Android’s open-source operating system, effectively allowing anyone with programming skill to create apps for mobile devices. Full story : Tony Anscombe – www.betanews.com
Anti-virus software is not stopping many malware threats
Endpoint protection products (EPPs), such as anti-virus (AV) software, are not stopping many malware threats, including multi-vector attacks, memory-only attacks, and evasion techniques used by cybercrimals, according to reports by NSS Labs.
Malware caught at one entry point is often not detected by EPPs at other entry points, such as a USB drive or network file server, NSS Labs found. The company examined EPPs from the top vendors in terms of market share. Full story : www.infosecurity-us.com
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Thanks for reading…
You can also keep up with the efforts to curb spam and cybercrime by reading the news at Knujon and HostExploit.com. And, you should switch to SpamCop and take a stand against spam.
