Image Spam a Major Threat to Business

Malware

"Malware writing is becoming increasingly more professional - shaped after corporate models" states security sotware company BitDefender®.

Malware hijackers infect computers in order to obtain direct financial gain or to seize control of a computer.

Trojan-type infections accounted for 83 percent of malware infections and is rising states BitDefender®.

However, the Downadup Internet worm caused the most damage to users, infecting a record estimated 11 million computers worldwide. Downadup is still a threat and attempts to gain access to file shares on a network.

"The Internet is one of the most important communications vehicles - used for business, schooling and leisure" said Vlad Vâlceanu, head of BitDefender® Antispam Research Lab.

"It has also become a channel for criminals to gain access to a vast number of computer systems, financial data and information" he said.

Cybercriminals have become increasing sophisticated and it is essential computer users have (security.

Malware mostly effected China, France,the United States, Romania, Spain and Australia states BitDefender®.

Image Based Spam

Text-based spam accounted for 80 percent this year compared to 70 percent for the same period in 2008 said BitDefender®.

"Image spam increased 150 percent since the first half of 2008"

In HTML newsletter-impersonating spam, downloadable images mimicking a reputable firm are used to trick you into accepting messages blocked by your email client.

"The use of images in those phishing exploits is so correct and accurate that the user doesn't realize when [it is not from] an eBay or Citibank or whatever" said Scott Petry founder of messaging management vendor Postini.

"On days when image spam is spreading at its peak capacity, the global bandwidth and storage consumed by spam grows by more than 70%" states email security vendor Commtouch Software.

"The average image spam message is 19 KB, more than three times the size of a standard spam message" states vendor Commtouch.

The majority of image spam is used in stock-scam messages Dmitri Allperovitch from CipherTrust.

Pink-sheet stocks are publicized to raise their value and the spammer then sells the stock for a profit.

Companies should carefully monitor the volume of incoming messages with image attachments" said Scott Petry of Postini.

Spam can undermine the availability of data to your business.

"If a significant portion of those messages aren't being blocked, it may be wise to restrict the delivery of certain image-based messages."

It may upset staff but a tleast your e-mail server will remain up and running said Petry.

Phishing messages accounted for 7 percent of spam the first half of 2009 states BitDefender®.

The United States, Canada the United Kingdom and Russia were most effected.

Web 2.0 phishing

Phishing messages accounted for 7 percent of spam the first half of 2009 states BitDefender®. The United States, Canada the United Kingdom and Russia were most effected.

Most web 2.0 phishing exploited user naivety.

In the Twitter Porn Name scam, users were invited to reveal their pet name the first street on which they lived. These names are often the answers to website security questions.

With a person's username along with these "clues" the criminal can obtain a password to later send spam or access transactions. They may demand ransom for release of the hijacked account.

Commonly phishing scams using identity fraud exploited the names of the Bank of America, Paypal or Abbey.