A burst of bogus IRS emails
created mayhem across America. This is why Internet and email users
need to be more alert and careful.
There's been a sudden increase in short bursts of viral
emails all over the Internet, which have exposed email users
to the widespread phenomenon of phishing. Some weeks back, an email,
which claimed to have been sent by the IRS (Internal Revenue Service),
started cluttering inboxes across America. The email requested clients
to download and fill a form sent by the government to deal with the
matter of under-reported income. The form, if downloaded, put the
attacker in complete control of the affected PC, who dispatched the
form to the victim’s contacts.
In a few hours security companies intensified defensive action
and started blocking thousands of copies of this counterfeit IRS mail.
As a result, spammers backed down and the campaign ended before the day
drew to a close.
Henry Stern, security researcher at Cisco Systems, said that
spammers employ this technique to overwhelm spam filters which are
‘slow-moving and reactive.’ Henry also said that bursts of this kind
are so swift that they do the damage before anyone finds out about
them. Spam bursts usually contain infections that create or replenish a
network of infected computers. These computers are called botnets and
serve as platforms for all cyber crimes.
This episode is another example of how spamming is carried out
with newer techniques to harass or cheat email users. People, as
experts have advised, ought to to keep their anti-virus protection
up-to-date and use more powerful anti-spam software or filters. They
should also avoid downloading any attachments or documents from unknown
senders.
Besides, users must employ some basic techniques to deal with
these types of threats. As far as possible they should avoid responding
to any emails that may arrive from banks, government bodies or any
other authorities requesting them to divulge confidential information
such as credit card details, bank account numbers or even contact
information. A more foolproof way to respond to such mails is through
some other channel of communication, like the telephone or website.
To counter such threats, it’s essential that people remain
alert and bring possible attempts of spamming or phishing to the notice
of concerned authorities.
Source:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/2009-09-16-hackers-email-spam_N.htm
