Internet Security and Programming

The FBI is warning people not to be disturbed by an e-mail scam that threatens your life and orders you to pay up to avoid being the target of a hired hit man. The FBI said its Internet Crime Complaint Center continues to receive thousands of reports concerning the hit man e-mail scheme. The FBI notes that while the content of the missive has evolved since similar hit man scams first surfaced in late 20006, the message remains the same, claiming the sender has been hired to kill the recipient. In some cases, the use of names, titles, addresses, and telephone numbers of government officials and business executives, and/or the victims’ personal information are used in an attempt to make the fraud appear more authentic, the FBI said. I’ve heard about these scams before, but never actually seen one of the e-mails until today. Below is a copy of […]

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Time to evolve, aardvarks
The use by spammers of dictionary attacks means those whose email address begins with a less common first character are liable to get less spam.…

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Are you local? Really?
Analysis Conflicting claims by Best Western and Glasgow’s Sunday Herald over the scope of a recent security breach have been put under the microscope by security watchers. The paper claims that eight million records were potentially exposed, while the hotel insists only ten records were accessed.…

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Last week, I examined a series of Web services that make profiting from cyber crime a point-and-click exercise that even the most novice hackers can master. Today, I’d like to highlight the activities of Atrivo, a Concord, Calif., based network provider that hosts some of these services. Several noted security researchers are releasing a report today that stems from many months of investigating malicious activity emanating from Atrivo’s customers. Security experts say that Atrivo, also known as “Intercage,” has long been a major source of spyware, adware, viruses and fake anti-virus products. The report is an exhaustive and well-researched analysis of Atrivo and its operations. Some of the statistics on active exploits cited in that report come from data sets I commissioned during my own investigation of Atrivo and later shared with Jart Armin, the principal author of the report and curator of the blog hostexploit.com. Looking back several […]

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If 7Search wins, you lose
In a case that could tie the hands of companies trying to protect their customers from internet threats, a website owner with past ties to a notorious piece of spyware has filed a lawsuit claiming it is being unfairly maligned by warnings from McAfee that the site poses a risk to its customers.…

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