Scammers jingle all the way

With the holidays just days away, shoppers rush around late into the night, radio stations blare seasonal tunes--and cybercriminals busily try to scam unsuspecting targets.
"Holidays are an excellent hook for scams," Klein said. Last year there were 8,829 different phishing campaigns in December, and the number has increased since, hitting a high of 15,820 in October, he said. "The real problem with phishing e-mail is that they really look like e-mail that you would expect to receive."
CNET

Phishers attack eBay using new technique

Scammers have found a new way to try to trick eBay members into giving them their personal information.
The new technique effectively hijacks links on listing or search results pages, taking people to an official-looking eBay log-in page that is actually phony.
Mercury News

'Tis the Season for Holiday Spamming

AppRiver has tracked dozens of Sober variants each week since late November, when the holiday shopping season officially began. Subject lines include "christmass dinner -- eat with no worries," "send the kids a letter from Santa" and "Holiday Treats and a free gift from Jelly Belly."
TechNewsWorld

Security Threats Up Nearly 50 Percent In 2005

It's been a good year for cybercrooks, especially those with the foresight to have gotten in on the boomingTrojan horse business.
The number of new worms, viruses, and Trojan horses jumped 48 percent in 2005, a security company said Tuesday, as it detailed the year's security woes.
Information Week

1 in 4 target with Phishing Scams

About one in four Internet users are hit with e-mail scams every month that try to lure sensitive personal information from unsuspecting consumers, a study says.

Of those receiving the phony e-mails, most thought they might be from legitimate companies -- seven in 10, or 70 percent, were fooled by the e-mails, said the report.
CNN

Gone Spear-Phishin'

About a year and a half ago, Amnon Jackont, an Israeli mystery novelist and Tel Aviv University history professor, became ensnared in a mystery of his very own: friends and students were receiving e-mail messages from him that he had never written. A few months later, unpublished paragraphs and chapters from a book he was writing were plucked from his computer and began appearing on Israeli Web sites.

Mr. Jackont took his computer to the Israeli police last fall and was told to reformat it. But his problems persisted. So the police examined his computer more closely and discovered that a malicious program known as a Trojan horse lay hidden deep inside and had hijacked the machine from a remote location.
New York Times

Phishing: Beware the Internal Revenue Scam

The official-looking e-mails promise an income-tax refund, but they're really one more reminder to be cautious with personal info online

Scam artists are in hot pursuit of your identity. And they're cooking up a growing number of so-called phishing schemes, using e-mails that look like they're from a reputable source to cull personal data needed to steal your hard-earned money.
Business Week