Spam levels rise

The levels of spam on the internet climbed substantially during the month of September, research from the security firm SoftScan has found.

Spam levels rose by a full 39 percent during the month and sometimes 98 percent of all the emails canned by the company were spam. The amount of viruses present during the month were relatively low, however there was a greater variety. Diego d'Ambra, chief technology officer of SoftScan, said: "Since June this year we have seen an increase of 95 percent in the amount of spam we stop each month.

"We are fortunate that the reputation filter we introduced last year, which effectively hangs up the phone to servers sending spam, catches the vast majority of junk mail before it reaches our spam filters". Often network administrators have struggled to deal with the amount of spam present, he added. Recently a hacker broke into the website Art.com and stole confidential information, it has been reported.

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EDS' Eight Cyber Security Tips

According to a CSI/FBI Computer Crime and Security Study, cyber crimes cost the United States economy an estimated $67 billion in damages(i), which is comparable to the U.S. federal government's estimated information technology (IT) spending
for fiscal year 2008(ii).

Corporations and governments have long known an effective IT security program requires dedicated resources - people, processes and technology. Investing wisely in cyber security is a fundamental cost of doing business in the relatively new wired world.

"The big business and government approach to cyber security contrasts sharply with many small business and home computer users who can unsuspectingly be the 'back doors' to a full-scale cyber attack," said Dave Morrow, EDS chief security and privacy officer. "This weakness at the grassroots level requires all users to be responsible citizens in the collective online world with equal time and energy spent to protect these computers. Everyone must practice safe computing habits and good personal computing hygiene."

In honor of National Cyber Security Awareness Month, EDS security and privacy experts have identified EDS' eight tips to help consumers secure their part of cyberspace:

1. Know the threat. The online world is a dangerous place. Just like any
city or town, there are "good" neighborhoods and "bad" ones.

2. Use the tools. Every home or small business user should install
commonly available security tools such as anti-virus software,
anti-spyware software and a personal firewall.

3. Be smart online. Like the physical world, cyberspace has its
"con-artist side" typified by bogus e-mails advertising
"get-rich-quick" schemes, "can't-miss" stocks and come-ons from the
opposite sex who "can't wait" to chat. All too often, these are teasers
drawing users to Web sites with viruses, bot programs or other cyber
risks.

4. Never respond to unsolicited requests for personal information. Be wary
of e-mails from organizations or individuals asking for your personal
information.

5. Beware of "phishing" e-mails. Phishing is one of the fastest-growing
forms of online fraud for identity thieves. Phishing e-mails appear
legitimate, often addressing you by name, which makes them even more
convincing.

6. Do not use personal information for passwords. Using information such
as Social Security numbers, birth dates, names, e-mail addresses or
telephone numbers as passwords can make you an easy target.

7. Review privacy and security policies for the companies you do business
with online. All reputable companies post a privacy and security policy
or statement on their Web site.

8. Monitor online activity regularly. If you conduct business online,
review your account statements regularly and consider using a separate
credit card for online purchases or payments to ensure all transactions
are in order. By reviewing online statements and transactions
frequently, you could detect a theft and limit its damage.

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Cyber criminals 'take advantage of Halloween'

As Halloween draws nearer, cyber criminals have launched a campaign of spam emails related to the celebration, according to the software security company Sophos.

The most prevalent piece of spam is one that promises a gift card worth $250 in exchange for the personal details of the recipient. Among the information requested is email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth.

Senior technology consultant for Sophos, Graham Cluley, said: "It's not immediately obvious whether this spam is being sent to commit identity theft or whether it's market research gone mad. "If you visit the site and give it your personal information the chances are that you will be bombarded with unwanted junk email until hell freezes over."

It is not likely that those behind the spam emails will really send out the promised gift card, Mr Cluley added. Meanwhile, the infamous storm worm is still as prevalent as ever, almost a year since it was first noticed, reports the Toronto Star.

Spam Surge Originates In China

There has been a significant rise in the amount of spam emails from the .cn domain according to the security software company Symantec.

The .cn domain is China's top level domain. However, there has been a drop in the levels of spam originating from Hong Kong, traditionally one of the most popular places to disseminate junk emails from, Symantec noted. Hong Kong has recently instituted wide-ranging new anti-spam laws.

Charles Mok Lai-kwong, the chairman of the Hong Kong Internet Society, told Hong Kong's South China Morning Post that spam has gone down by at least one-third. He said: "We have observed from local internet providers that the volume of spam has been decreasing over the past year by about 30 percent." There has also been a significant drop in the amount of image spam being disseminated. In July ten percent of spam messages were image spam, in contrast to 50 percent earlier in 2007.