[Part 4 of an occasional series, updating a blog series I ran in early 2009 to reflect changes in the threat landscape. This series will also be available shortly as a white paper.] Good Password Practice Use different passwords for your computer and on-line services. Also, it’s good practice to change passwords on a regular basis

In just a couple of weeks you will be out of time to shop online and have that gift delivered in time for the holiday. I expect that there will be a surge in phishing attacks designed to take advantage of the panic factor. You get an email that says something to the effect that

So, my recent blog about PayPal calling its own email phishing seems to have received a bit of attention. The Good In response, I got an email from their Principal Security Engineer who asked me for a copy of the email that was incorrectly identified as a phish so he could use it to help

In view of some of the discussion generated by Randy's blog on PayPal's "confession" of "phishing", it's refreshing to see a straightforward summary of the issue from the estimable Larry Seltzer for PC Mag (see http://blogs.pcmag.com/securitywatch/2009/12/paypal_admits_to_phishing_its.php?sms_ss=twitter). PayPal's view of the issue seems equivocal. They've gone to some lengths to dismiss this issue as the agenda of

Yes, it is true, I am not making this up. I do not believe that PayPal has stolen anything from users, but they have told me that their own email is phishing. Here’s what happened. I sent them one of their own legitimate emails and told them it was a bad idea to include a

Frankly, I am really amazed that Craig’s list has not been much more attacked. They must be doing something right. Still, the opportunities for social engineering attacks seem quite bountiful to me. So far the majority of scams I have heard about involve old fashioned attacks, like having someone send an item they sold after

With the holiday purchasing season in full swing, expect to see a rise in PayPal phishing attacks. The bad guys know that there is a high likelihood of increased PayPal use. As we get closer to Christmas, the need for timely orders will increase. This will probably result in a lot more of the phishing

After a few years in the security business, it's easy to get a bit too used to the background noise, and forget that not everyone is familiar with concepts like phishing (see Randy's recent blog at http://www.eset.com/threat-center/blog/2009/11/16/once-upon-a-cybercrime%e2%80%a6), or botnets ("whatever they are", as my brother said to me quite recently), or money mules. I've written

Recently ESET commissioned Competitive Edge Research and Communications, Inc. to conduct a study about attitudes, beliefs, and experiences of Americans with respect to cybercrime. There were some interesting results. One of the findings is that most American’s are not aware that cybercrime is linked to organized crime. Viruses and Trojans are no longer the purview

I recently learned a new acronym: SODDI (Some Other Dude Did It). What this refers to is the defense that criminals routinely use (plausible deniability) – and even more so when it comes to illicit activities on the Internet. On Sunday, November 8th 2009 the Associated Press published an article regarding an individual that was