Posted 11/16/09 at 07:41:26 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Online scammers tend to cash in on people's sense of alarm. By that token, the ongoing H1N1 flu pandemic is like a blank check for online criminals. And they seem to be in no mood to let this opportunity slip past them. According to a report published by web security firm Sophos, the sale of counterfeit antiviral drugs meant to combat H1N1 flu symptoms is going on unabated on the internet. Hundreds of millions of spam adverts and websites are being used by these fraudulent online pharmacies to lure unsuspecting, flu-fearing people.

According to the report, a vast number of such fraudulent online pharmacies are based out of Russia, while the bulk of their victims are from the United States, Germany, Britain, Canada and France. A lot appears to be at stake as online charlatans are earning thousands of dollars each day by selling drugs like Tamiflu and Relenza online. "The criminals can be members of more than one affiliate network, and some have boasted of earning more than $100,000 per day," Sophos said in a statement.

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Posted 02/12/09 at 07:15:16 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Online beguilers are leaving no stone unturned in propagating malware. They have shown remarkable pliancy in adapting themselves to the ever-evolving cyber landscape. They have realized that the best places to ply their diabolical trade are the ones with massive traffic. As nothing rivals social websites in popularity, such cyber haunts have endeared themselves to malware authors.

According to PandaLabs Security’s Sean-Paul Correll, malware writers are increasingly using popular social news aggregator Digg to their advantage. They either submit erroneous stories that sound sensational or post ostensibly relevant links when commenting on a popular story. This trick is sufficient to bamboozle gullible internet users, who unsuspectingly end up on websites fraught with malware.

The malware files are mostly disguised as video codecs and anti-spyware downloads. Correll has been able to identify 52 Digg accounts being operated by malware peddlers.   

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Posted 01/27/09 at 08:53:23 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Online scammers have contrived an ingenuous way to ride Obama’s rampant wave of popularity. According to Websense Security Labs, certain unscrupulous elements have registered several accounts on my.barackobama.com, the social network on Obama’s website that affords all standard social networking features to users, including personal profiles, groups and blogs.

The charlatans created various accounts on the website and planted a hideous Youtube image with the message, “click here to see movie.” Users who click on the image mistaking it for a Youtube video are redirected instead to a website, which resembles Youtube, but appears to be fraught with pornographic content.

However, when a user proceeds to view one of the videos the website asks the user to download a missing video codec. In its stead is downloaded a Trojan. Further proof of Obama's widespread popularity.

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