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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: phishing

phishing stories: 23 news summaries

1 - 20 of 23 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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 Spam King Ordered to 
 Pay Facebook $711M 

Sanford Wallace may face jail time

Oct 30, 09 4:53 AM CDT
(Newser) - "Spam king" Sanford Wallace has been slapped with a $711 million judgment for spamming Facebook users. A California judge found that Wallace, who used phishing techniques to access Facebook accounts, violated a law against sending "false and misleading" marketing emails. The judge permanently banned Wallace from accessing Facebook... More »

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spam • Facebook • phishing • cybercrime • Sanford Wallace

Email Scam Reveals How Crummy Passwords Are

'123456' was most common single password of 10,000 revealed

Oct 7, 09 2:23 PM CDT
(Newser) - The hackers who stole the logins and passwords for thousands of email accounts in a phishing scam that came to light this week likely lured users with fake “security check” forms. But for many users, they wouldn’t have needed to expend that much energy: the most common single... More »

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hack • computer security • phishing • Windows Live • computer passwords • passwords • Hotmail

How to Avoid Becoming
a Phishing Victim

Simple precautions can keep info out of scammers' hands

Oct 7, 09 1:19 AM CDT
(Newser) - Phishing scams are becoming a lot more sophisticated. Unwary Internet users can easily end up with their bank account and credit card details in the hands of crooks. CNET lists the best ways to avoid becoming a victim:
  • Change passwords regularly. Experts recommend that passwords be changed every three
... More »

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email • hacker • Gmail • computer security • phishing • hacking • Hotmail

Hotmail Phishing Scam
Also Took In Gmail Users

Hotmail users not alone; scheme was 'industry-wide'

Oct 6, 09 2:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - Hotmail users weren’t the only ones compromised in the huge phishing scheme that came to light yesterday. Another 20,000 email accounts and passwords have surfaced, bearing addresses from Gmail, Yahoo, AOL and other services, the BBC reports. Google has found a third list but hasn't detailed its contents.... More »

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Google • email • Gmail • hackers • phishing • hacking • e-mails • Hotmail

Hackers Post 10K Hotmail Passwords Online

Operation may have thousands more; Microsoft investigating

Oct 5, 09 6:12 PM CDT
(Newser) - Names and passwords for at least 10,000 compromised Hotmail email accounts were made public today, and Microsoft says it's investigating. A list of account names and passwords that was posted to a software development forum may only be a small part of the cache of stolen info—it consisted... More »

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Microsoft • email • phishing • Windows Live • hacking • Hotmail

 Hackers Dupe Facebook Users 

Phishing scheme scores password information

May 15, 09 8:49 AM CDT
(Newser) - Hackers went Facebook-phishing yesterday, nabbing the passwords of an undisclosed number of users, Reuters reports. Facebook is working to restore the site and has blocked accounts hit in what it believes was a ploy to spread future spam. Hackers broke into accounts, sending users’ friends emails that contained links to... More »

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social networking • Internet • spam • hacker • Facebook • phishing • passwords • Jay-ZTV

 Hacker Tweaks Twitter Celebs 


Britney, Obama among the victims of hacker targeting high-profile accounts

Jan 6, 09 4:45 AM CST
(Newser) - Barack Obama, Britney Spears and CNN's Rick Sanchez were among dozens of people whose Twitter accounts were hijacked yesterday by a hacker, CNET reports. The hacker, who exploited the site's support tools to gain access, made fake updates to several accounts—including references to private parts and drug use—before... More »

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hacker • celebrity • phishing • hacking • Twitter

Virus Helps Violate 500K
Bank, Credit Accounts

Infects computers through 'drive-by downloads"

Oct 31, 08 4:35 PM CDT
(Newser) - A computer virus has stolen log-in information for over 500,000 bank accounts and credit and debit cards. The Sinowal Trojan virus has infected computers around the world through “drive-by downloads” that install it without users' knowledge when they visit Web sites running the virus code. Individuals can best... More »

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identity theft • computer virus • Internet security • phishing • Trojan viruses • malware • banks • Sinowal

'Every Network Is at Risk' Thanks to Bug

Security expert says DNS flaw could cause Internet-wide chaos

Aug 7, 08 8:05 AM CDT
(Newser) - Security researcher Dan Kaminsky outlined what he calls the biggest Internet security hole since 1997 to a gathering of experts yesterday, and it's a lot worse than had been understood, Wired reports. “Every network is at risk,” Kaminsky said at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas. "... More »

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Internet • domain names • Internet security • phishing • Internet domains • cybercrime • Dan Kaminsky

 'Spam King' Owes MySpace $6M 

Social networking site wins another multi-million suit against spammers

Jun 17, 08 9:36 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Colorado company accused of spamming must pay MySpace $6 million in damages and legal fees after an arbitrator ruled for the social networking site, the AP reports. Media Breakaway and its CEO, aka the "Spam King," were accused of using hijacked or "phished" accounts to send... More »

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social networking • MySpace • spam • lawsuit • phishing • Media Breakaway

Yahoo Suit Targets
Lottery Scammers

Company alleges fraudulent trademark use in case; success hardly certain

May 27, 08 8:50 PM CDT
(Newser) - Yahoo is suing a group of unidentified spammers who’ve sent emails claiming to be from the "Yahoo International Lottery Organization," soliciting personal information and sometimes money from purported lottery winners. Yahoo is seeking damages for fraudulent use of its trademarks, but it might prove hard to identify... More »

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Yahoo • spam • lawsuit • scam • phishing

38 Phishers Charged in US and Romania

They allegedly stole thousands of credit
card numbers online

May 19, 08 6:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - A US grand jury has charged 38 Americans and Romanians with stealing credit and debit card numbers in an online phishing scheme, PC World reports. The culprits allegedly sent out emails that resembled official documents, asking people to cough up personal data and account numbers—which they did, by the... More »

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phishing • Romania

Top US Execs Victimized by Devious Phishing Scam

Virus, disguised as subpoena, thought to come from Singapore or China

Apr 16, 08 3:06 PM CDT
(Newser) - American executives are the latest targets of an incognito email virus that comes packaged as an authentic-looking subpoena demanding the corporate heads appear before a California grand jury. There have been several victims of the attack, the New York Times reports, which is thought to originated in Singapore or China—... More »

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subpoenas • scam • phishing • grand jury • passwords • executives • antivirus

Malware Threats
Skyrocketed in 2007

Symantec mulling new security approach

Apr 8, 08 2:51 PM CDT
(Newser) - Last year saw an explosion in malware threats that has Symantec considering a new approach to Internet security—“whitelisting” legitimate computer code rather than blacklisting known threats. Of 1.1 million threats the company has discovered in over 25 years, it uncovered almost two-thirds of them in 2007, Computerworld ... More »

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Symantec • Internet security • phishing • cybercrime • malware

Coming Soon
to Your
Cell: Spam

Users pay for unwanted text messages; 'smishers' fish for info

Mar 10, 08 2:25 PM CDT
(Newser) - To the dismay of customers and cellphone providers, spammers and even phishers have gone mobile. Researchers predict US consumers will get a record 1.5 billion spam text messages this year, while “smishing” texts try to con recipients into giving up sensitive financial information, reports the Washington Post.... More »

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fraud • cell phones • Verizon • spam • phishing • texting • mobile advertising • smishing

Free Tool Offers Web Security

Former Microsoft employees run startup Haute Secure

Mar 7, 08 11:12 AM CST
(Newser) - A new free system designed to protect Web surfers from dangerous code is taking on the software security giants, reports the Wall Street Journal. Developers say Haute Secure, the brainchild of ex-Microsoft security experts, blocks Web pages embedded with malicious code. The public can download the program free, and... More »

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technology • Internet • Microsoft • Symantec • Internet security • startup • phishing • malware • malicious code • computer code • Haute Secure • McAfee

Congressional Report Blames TSA for Botched Website

Site lacked basic security features

Jan 11, 08 10:40 PM CST
(Newser) - The TSA awarded a website design and maintenance contract to a firm with whom an administration official had close personal and professional ties, ComputerWorld reports. The site, meant to handle individual requests to have names removed from the TSA’s no-fly list, lacked even rudimentary encryption mechanisms and was not... More »

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identity theft • Department of Homeland Security • TSA • Internet security • phishing • encryption

Latest Domain Name Hack Disguises
Its Danger

Can secretly steer Windows users wrong

Dec 11, 07 8:48 PM CST
(Newser) - The misdirection of “open-recursive” DNS servers, which facilitate web-surfing by translating verbal domain names into numerical IP addresses, is the new, more covert face of cyber-criminality, and could explode into a new wave of phishing attacks, IDG News reports. Hackers can use these types of DNS servers to redirect... More »

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domain names • phishing • Internet domains • cybercrime • DNS

Cyberattack on US Nuclear Lab Linked to China

Hackers' trail leads to Chinese locations, but could be red herring

Dec 9, 07 1:49 PM CST
(Newser) - The coordinated cyberattack into the nonclassified portion of a US nuclear laboratory may have originated in China, says a Homeland Security memo obtained by the New York Times. The memo includes a list of offending internet addresses associated with locations in China, but points out that hackers commonly bounce their... More »

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hacker • computer security • phishing • Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Phishers Adopt New Tactics to Reel In Victims

Online fraudsters turn to shorter URLs to make sites look legit

Dec 3, 07 5:52 PM CST
(Newser) - Internet phishers are using shorter Web addresses to make their sites seem more legitimate, says IBM's online-security division. The group observed fraudulent URLs dropping from 30-37 characters to an average of 17, reports CNET. "The fact that they felt the need to make this move suggests that they were... More »

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online fraud • web surfing • Internet security • phishing

1 - 20 of 23 Stories | 1 2 Next >>


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