$114b Industry

Which industry made $114 billion in the past 12 months? Cybercrime did.

According to  Norton’s Cybercrime 2011 report, criminals stole US$114b worth of money using the internet. This is a serious problem. Think about where all that money came from? Who do you know that had stolen from their bank account, credit card, or other cases of fraud?

Here’s a breakdown the US$114b:

  • USA: $32b (74 million victims)
  • China: $25b
  • Brazil: $15b
  • India: $4b
These figures are calculated from survey results, so they’re not completely accurate but they do give a very good indication of the problem. The report also estimated that more than 1 million people lose money to cybercrime every day. That’s a lot of people!
Poll:

Facebook Security Guide

Facebook’s security and privacy have never been perfect but they’re now starting to take it more seriously. Maybe some strong competition from Google+ has something to do with it.

Facebook have published a security guide and it’s quite good. It covers topics like recognising scams, recognising hacked accounts and how to use SSL connections. All good stuff! For example,

The common scams offer prizes like free  virtual objects. Other lures claim that your account has been suspended and provide a link for you to remedy the problem.

If you use Facebook at all I recommend reading through the guide. I also strongly suggest you print it out and lend it to your friends and family – people who might not be able to do their own research on security.

The more people understand security on Facebook the better it will be for everyone. Click here for A Guide to Facebook Security.

 

Sharing Your Location Online

locationThere are many ways now to share your current location, including

  • Foursquare
  • Facebook Places
  • Bing and Google have their location sharing systems

It’s a popular thing to do. But have you ever had a good think about the pros and cons of doing this?

Pros:

  • It’s fun, everyone does it
  • It’s a novel way to share your life with friends and family
  • If you have good locks and security in your home then it might not matter
Cons:
  • You lose some privacy, both for yourself and for those you’re with
  • You could be letting people know that no one is at your home, potentially encouraging intruders 
Poll:
Post comments below, share your thoughts on location sharing sites.

Hotel “Wrong Transaction” Spam

Lately there have been some spam emails claiming to have details about an incorrect hotel transaction. The email is a ploy to install malware on your computer. Here’s how it works,

  • You receive an email telling you that a hotel has incorrectly charged your credit card
  • The email also says that you should fill out an attached form for a refund (i.e. open an attachment and get some money)
  • The attachment installs a fake antivirus program
  • The fake antivirus program asks you to pay money to clean your PC (even though there’s really nothing wrong with it)
This spam email has many variants but they all seem to be based on a hotel transaction. Below are some example subject lines
Hotel Renaissance Chicago made wrong transaction
Hotel Westin St. Francis made wrong transaction
Wrong transaction from your credit card in Woodrun V Townhomes
If you see an email like these just delete it, or mark it as spam. Don’t open the attachment.

Google’s Malware Warning Screen

Google has added a new feature to its search engine – it can now detect if your PC is infected with malware. It’s a clever bit of code that just quietly watches for unusual activity.

At the moment it only detects one strain of malware, but since it’s transparent and non intrusive it’s a good thing. Also, this is only relevant to Windows.
Google Malware Warning

So if you see this message, your PC is probably infected with malware. Google suggests some steps to remove it, and you should really buy and install an antivirus program to prevent further problems.

 

NBN Scam In Tasmania

Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) is slowly but surely being rolled out, already covering some parts of Tasmania. Certainly this has been advertised and discussed in the region, raising local awareness. Unfortunately, scammers have used this publicity and gone door knocking in parts of Tasmania that don’t yet have access to the NBN.

Details of the scam:

a salesperson wearing a jacket bearing the logo of a telco is going from door to door in Hobart telling customers that they can only get on the NBN with that particular telco. The alleged salesperson also made errors about broadband speeds, and was unfamiliar with the local area

So there you go, if someone tries to sell you something to do with the NBN, get it in writing and do some research. Details here.

VirusBarrier: Antivirus for iPhones

A French security company called Intego has released the first antivirus app for iPhones, called VirusBarrier. This is news because so far iPhones have not needed antivirus programs, there are currently no viruses on iPhones. Here’s a breakdown of what VirusBarrier is:

What VirusBarrier does:

  • it can scan email attachments – but it’s not automatic, you need to go into VirusBarrier and tell it which email attachment to scan (and only one at a time)
  • it can scan files on DropBox

What VirusBarrier does not do:

  • it does not scan all files or apps on the iPhone. It can’t because of Apple’s sandbox model.
  • it does not do automatic scans
  • it does not do scheduled scans
  • it does not scan apps
So overall it seems more of a publicity stunt, it’s not something I’d spend $2.99 on.

Facebook Scam: Casey Anthony

Another Facebook scam. This one works like most others, you see an interesting post by one of your friends. You’re tempted to click on a link, then the trouble begins. This one is about Casey Anthony with a message saying,

“BREAKING NEWS–Leaked Video of Casey Anthony CONFESSING to Lawyer!”, don’t believe the hype. Please. Don’t say I didn’t warn you

If you see this don’t click on it, it’s a scam.  If you click and try to watch the video it accesses your Facebook profile and spams all of your friends. It then takes you to an online survey that makes someone else money. Then your friends will also have the scam posted from their own Facebook accounts, spreading the scam down the network.

If you see this message on Facebook let them know it’s a scam. Don’t click on it.

Facebook Scam: Enable Video Calls

A new Facebook scam starts with a message saying,

Enable video calls

This scam installs a malicious app in your Facebook account that reads through your profile and spams all of your friends. The malicious app then sends them to an online survey that has nothing to do with Facebook.

Facebook does have a video feature but you don’t need to click on someone’s post and enable a Facebook app to enable it. So why would one of your friends post a link to malware? They probably don’t know, malware has a way of using people’s Facebook accounts to advertise itself.

If you see a message like the one in the post above, let your friend know it’s a scam.

The right way to use Facebook video is by opening up the chat window then clicking on the icon of a video camera,