CYBER WATCH
mail stream practices in an effort to subsidiary companies of bigger com- tecting and enforcing these novel and de-
“sell” security software that is either panies will be exposed more fre- structive criminal activity continues to
misleading or outright fraudulent. quently, forcing an overhaul of data pose enormous challenges for traditional
security practices. and conservative forensic techniques and
Abusing Free Web-Hosting & Blogging business intelligence technology.
Services. Websites, such as Geocities, Localized Phishing Campaigns. Online This has now become a daunting task
Blogspot and Live.com allow anyone to scammers will increasingly target spe- for computer forensic analysts, as the
create a public website for free, without cific communities, especially on uni- volume of data that has now come into play
the authentication necessary when pur- versity campuses, where professional is of such magnitude that it is crippling to
chasing a domain name website. This looking e-mails claiming to be associ- most contemporary analytical tools. One
gives spammers the opportunity to run ated with the school’s financial or possible solution is educating and en-
their underground business with min- scholarship department will be blasted forcing the human component to help min-
imal expense. Spam from do-it-yourself to all the students at the school. imize the destruction until technology
social-website-hosting providers arrives comes up with faster, more reliable av-
at its destination with far greater fre- Increase in Forging and Abuse of Free enues to catch up to this cancer that is in-
quency than links pointing to domain E-mail Services. The free e-mail serv- fecting our nation at a remarkable rate.
names assigned by legitimate registrars. ices have started to allow accounts to
send mails with arbitrary “from” ad- Brent MacLean is the
Browser-Based Attacks. Cyber criminals dresses. This has increased the us- founder and CEO of J.B.
will increasingly attack via web browsers ability of these services significantly to MacLean Consulting
as they are the least protected and there- businesses, but has also increased the (www.jbm.net) and Cana-
fore, easiest way to transfer malware. “abusability” by spammers. dian Intelligence Solutions.
He has more than 22 years of experience
Breaches of Confidential Data. Infor- Today, cyber crime and Internet fraud in network, security, and infrastructure
mation that is managed by partner and are extremely high profile, although de- design and troubleshooting.
Information Protection Consulting
Document Destruction Programs
Media/Hard Drive/e-Waste Destruction
WWW.SECURITYMATTERSMAG.COM JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2010 SECURITY MATTERS 9
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