Report: Web Hosts Common Target of Phishers

Nearly 40 percent of web hosts were repeat victims of phishing attacks that resulted in the placing of malware on their server platforms, according to a new report by the Internet Policy Committee of the Anti-Phishing Working Group.

Thirty-seven percent of respondents said their websites had phishing or spoof sites planted on their web …

Mobile Malware Report Predicts ‘Significant’ Uptick in Cellphone Attacks

On the heels of a recent study warning about mobile malware emerging as the new frontier of cyber crime comes another report that discusses the evolution of both smart devices and the threats that target them.

The “Smartphone Malware Report,” by Panda Security and Spain’s National Cyber-Security Advisory Council, follows…

Robert S. Mueller: FBI Will Place More Emphasis on Fighting Cyber Threats

The FBI plans to intensify its attention on battling cyber crime as the agency wrestles with cyber attacks at companies such as Google and Sony, according to Bloomberg.

“We will increasingly put emphasis on addressing cyber threats in all of their variations,” FBI Director Robert S. Mueller said today…

UK Man Nabbed for Attempted Facebook Hack

A 26-year-old U.K. man was arrested last week after being accused of trying to hack into Facebook, IDG News reports.

Few details are known about the alleged incident, but Facebook said last Friday no user information had been stolen and it is working with the FBI and Scotland Yard in an investigation.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said the suspect had been arrested in North Yorkshire…

Report: Inconsistency in Creating Cybersecurity Strategies Common among EU Nations

A new report on network and information security finds that European nations are highly varied in how prepared they are for dealing with cyber crime, network attacks and network resilience, according to the European Network and Information Security Agency.

ENISA’s “Country Reports” features an overview and detailed reports on 30 European nations, with information…

New Zealand to Fight Cyber Terrorists, Hacktivists

The government in New Zealand has launched an initiative to stop cyber crime, espionage, online terrorist recruitment and even hacktivism, The New Zealand Herald reports.

Communications Minister Steven Joyce yesterday announced the cybersecurity strategy document detailing the government’s response to a “growing cyber threat.” The strategy calls for the creation of a…

Nevada Man Sentenced to 12 Years for $1.5 M eBay Scam

A 40-year-old Nevada man has been sentenced to 12,5 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.5 million in restitution for defrauding more than 250 persons in an Internet fraud scheme involving high-end appliances.

Darin French was convicted Feb. 18, 2011, of 22 counts of mail fraud, 11 counts of wire fraud, and three counts of money laundering. His wife, Jennifer French, 38, was…

Scotland Yard Official: Not Understanding Cyber Crime is Like Being Illiterate

Scotland Yard’s senior officer Janet Williams has stood up a “cyber flying squad” based at the London headquarters to pursue cyber criminals, according to the Guardian.

The 35-member cyber team has had significant success but has asked multinational corporations to contribute with their sophisticated cybersecurity, as “their intelligence systems are better than ours,” Williams said.

Williams…

Scammers Exploit Treasury Department

It is not unusual for cyber crooks to use various government agencies or officials to legitimize their scams, and now a scheme has emerged that misrepresents the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, according to the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center.

Victims report receiving an email claiming to be from the Treasury Department, stating their lost funds, which were stolen and diverted to a foreign account registered in…

Spammers Use New Technique for Bait-and-Switch Ploy

Spammers are now establishing their own fake URL-shortening services to perform URL redirection, which has led to an increase in spam by 2.9 percentage points this month, according to new research.

The Symantec May 2011 MessageLabs Intelligence Report reveals that in a bait-and-switch ruse, scammers supply legitimate shortened URLs in spam messages that direct unwitting…