Threats in the News for December
Mobile and identity theft attacks, sometimes combined, top the list of threats in the news for December. While Android malware continues to steal headlines, and not in a good way, we did see a Windows Phone vulnerability make the news last month.
On the identity theft front, Zeus continues to be a major concern and the attacks are getting more sophisticated as it was combined with a DDoS attack to hide the fraudulent transfers.
Not surprising, during the holiday season there were many phishing attacks that targeted users of Amazon, Apple and others as cybercriminals tried to catch consumers with their guard down and have them click on bad links.
While out of date anti-virus is a major weakness that hackers exploit, a recent study shows that 8 of 10 software apps have bugs or flaws that can also be capitalized on to launch attacks. Making sure all your software is up-to-date is crucial to protecting against the different attacks.
Here are December’s top news items you should be aware of:
- Two new tools exploit router security setup problem
Dec 30, 2011 — Computerworld - Data-stealing Android Trojan masquerades as greeting-sending app
Dec 29, 2011 — HelpNetSecurity - Scrooge phishing attacks launched against Apple users on Christmas
Dec 28, 2011 — Infosecurity - Covert Trojan Targets Military Families’ Bank Accounts
Dec 20, 2011 — SecurityNewsDaily - Latest spam campaigns delivering the Zbot Trojan
Dec 19, 2011 — HelpNetSecurity - Flash Player scam charges victims for free program via SMS
Dec 16, 2011 — Computerworld - Windows Phone hit by SMS vulnerability
Dec 13, 2011 — ZDNet - 8 Out of 10 Software Apps Fail Security Test
Dec 07, 2011 — Wired - Amazon users targeted with new phishing attack
Dec 05, 2011 — SC Magazine - Zeus Criminals Launch DDoS Attacks to Hide Fraudulent Wire Transfers
Dec 01, 2011 — eWeek
This post is by no means exhaustive and you can find more articles in our Industry News section. You can also find the latest list of home network infections and Internet threats as reported by Kindsight Security Labs.
