October 30th, 2008

UK cybercrime up 9% in 2007

Posted by AM @ 12:35 pm

Categories: Fraud, Security

Tags: Cybercrime, U.K., Identity Theft, Security, AM

UK cybercrime rose by more than 9% in 2007, according to Garlick. 3.5 mln online crimes were committed in the UK in 2007. There was an 8% drop in online identity theft and sexual offences fell 2%.

August 19th, 2008

29% of Internet users buy from spam emails

Posted by AM @ 10:58 pm

Categories: E-mail, Fraud

Tags: Internet User, Internet, Spammer, E-mail, Botnets, Spam, Security, Spam And Phishing, AM

29% of Internet users have purchased goods from spam emails, according to Marshal. The most commonly purchased items include sexual enhancement pills, software, adult material and luxury items such as watches, jewellery and clothing. Botnets are networks comprised of thousands of infected personal computers, controlled remotely by criminals. They have enabled spammers to push down their costs through economies of scale and eliminated the need for spammers to host their own spam servers as they simply take control of other people’s computers instead. Recent FBI prosecutions of bot-herders and investigations of message-boards used by spammers, suggests the going rate for spammers to send a mln spam messages is as little as $5-10.

August 13th, 2008

74% of all e-mail in Q2 2008 was spam

Posted by AM @ 1:41 pm

Categories: Advertising, E-mail, Fraud, Security, WWW, Web traffic

Tags: Bank, Google Inc., E-mail, Attack, Cyberthreats, Phishing, Spam, Financial Services, Security, Spam And Phishing

In Q2 2008, 74% of all mail received was spam. In Q2 2008, Turkey became the country with most zombie computers (11% of the global total), followed by Brazil (8.4%) and Russia (7.4%). The USA, which in the Q1 2008 accounted for 5% of all zombies, is now in ninth place with just 4.3% of the total. Google Adwords has been at the center of one of the most notable attacks over the last quarter, PandaLabs says. This Google service had been used previously to launch phishing attacks and the trend continues. This type of attack uses social engineering to trick users into revealing confidential details (bank account numbers, passwords, etc.).

August 4th, 2008

$8.5 bln lost to viruses and spyware in 2006-2007

Posted by AM @ 11:34 pm

Categories: Fraud, General, Security

Tags: Consumer Reports, Virus, Cyberthreats, Phishing, Spyware, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Viruses And Worms, Security, Spam And Phishing, AM

US consumers lost almost $8.5 bln over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing schemes. Consumer Reports estimates that American consumers have replaced about 2.1 mln computers over the past two years because of online threats. Consumers have 1 in 6 chance of becoming a cybervictim, down from 1 in 4 in 2007. Spyware and virus infections have also declined significantly over the past few years. Consumer Reports projects that problems they cause have resulted in damages of roughly $6.5 bln over the past two years. Consumer Reports also estimates that 3.5 mln U.S. households with broadband remain unprotected by a firewall.

August 4th, 2008

$8.5 bln lost to viruses and spyware in 2006-2007

Posted by AM @ 11:34 pm

Categories: Fraud, General, Security

Tags: Consumer Reports, Virus, Cyberthreats, Phishing, Spyware, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Viruses And Worms, Security, Spam And Phishing, AM

US consumers lost almost $8.5 bln over the last two years to viruses, spyware, and phishing schemes. Consumer Reports estimates that American consumers have replaced about 2.1 mln computers over the past two years because of online threats. Consumers have 1 in 6 chance of becoming a cybervictim, down from 1 in 4 in 2007. Spyware and virus infections have also declined significantly over the past few years. Consumer Reports projects that problems they cause have resulted in damages of roughly $6.5 bln over the past two years. Consumer Reports also estimates that 3.5 mln U.S. households with broadband remain unprotected by a firewall.

July 26th, 2008

32% of North American SMBs have been hit by cybercrime numerous times

Posted by AM @ 10:33 am

Categories: Fraud, Security

Tags: Cybercriminal, Smb/Sme, AM

32% of small and medium businesses in the United States and Canada have been attacked more than four times by cybercriminals in the last three years, MCAfee said. 26% of those attacked took at least a week to recover, a devastating length of time to be offline for small businesses who conduct business and sales via the Web. Recovery time in Canada was even greater, with a third (36%) taking a week or more to fully restore their systems. 44% think cybercrime is only an issue for larger organizations and believe it does not affect them. 52% of businesses believe that because they are not well-known so cybercriminals will not specifically target them. Almost half (45%) do not think they are a ‘valuable target’ for cybercriminals. 46% do not think they can be a source of profit for cybercriminals. SMBs may not be as safe from security attacks as they think. 88% of respondents believed they were ‘adequately protected,’ yet 43% of them admitted that they simply accept the default settings on their IT equipment, settings which are often not in line with their specific business needs.

April 17th, 2008

51% of Americans write down their online passwords

Posted by AM @ 8:46 pm

Categories: Fraud, Security

Tags: Password, U.K., Identity Theft, Litigation, Security, Business Operations, AM

88% of people interviewed in the US and the UK by Accenture said personal irresponsibility is the key cause of identity theft and fraud. 70% of respondents in the UK said they don’t write down their passwords, versus 49% in the US.

March 25th, 2008

66% of cellphone users worry about sharing personal data

Posted by NB @ 2:28 pm

Categories: Fraud, Mobile usage

Tags: Barrier, Financial, Cell Phone, Cellular Phones, Wireless, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, NB

Anxiety about sharing personal data is the biggest barrier to consumer acceptance of mobile banking and commerce (66%), according to Harris Interactive. Additional barriers to adoption: more exposure to fraud and financial scams (63% expressed concern); worry about losing a device containing valuable information (61%); concern about costs (58%); usability (43%), reliability (37%), and speed of wireless network (23%)

March 19th, 2008

800k identity theft cases in 2007, 23% of them involve credit cards

Posted by AM @ 8:32 pm

Categories: Fraud

Tags: Credit Card, Fraud, Identity Theft, Litigation, Security, Business Operations, AM

FTC logged about 800,000 consumer complaints about identity theft during 2007, of which 32% involved identity theft and 68% covered other types of fraud. Of the identity theft cases, only 23% involved a credit card account, and cases of unauthorized new accounts outnumbered misuse of existing accounts by two to one. Other categories involved using someone else’s name for a utilities account (18%), for employment (14%), for government benefits fraud (11%), loan fraud (5%) and other forms of bank fraud (13%).

February 24th, 2008

1.4% of online revenues lost to fraud in 2007

Posted by AM @ 7:07 pm

Categories: E-commerce, Fraud

Tags: Revenue, Fraud, Online Payment, Litigation, E-business/E-Commerce, Financial Services, Business Operations, Internet, AM

The share of online revenue lost to fraud in 2007 held steady with 2006 at 1.4%, but as e-commerce grows, the total dollar loss from online payment fraud is growing at the rate of about 20% a year and is estimated at $3.6 bln in 2007, up from $3.1 bln in 2006, according to CyberSource.

February 23rd, 2008

Top malware countries: Russia, China, US, Brazil, UK

Posted by AM @ 7:00 pm

Categories: Fraud, Security

Tags: Brazil, Malware, Spyware, Adware & Malware, Cyberthreats, Viruses And Worms, Security, AM

Russia now occupies number one spot on Sophos malware ranking list with 27.4% of malware, slightly ahead of China on 27%. Both leave the US trailing in third with 10.1%, Brazil on 6.6%, and the UK with 5.32%.

February 20th, 2008

Identity theft down 12% in 2007

Posted by AM @ 4:57 pm

Categories: Fraud

Tags: Phone, Identity Fraud, Fraudster, Fraud, Identity Theft, Telecom & Utilities, Litigation, Security, Business Operations, AM

Overall identity fraud is declining in the United States: down by an estimated 12% over 2006, which represents a total fraud reduction of $6 bln. Fraudsters are turning to lower-tech methods by utilizing telephone theft more than ever before, Javelin Research says.

Access through mail and telephone transactions grew from 3% of ID theft in 2006 to 40% in 2007. Fraud risk is lowest in the Northeast while residents in California and other states are at the highest risk. Young adults who fall victim to fraud are most likely to purchase ID fraud insurance and sign up for fraud alerts. Older adults who fall victim often react by no longer sending bill payments and checks through unsecured mailboxes.

February 9th, 2008

5.49 mln unique samples of malicious software in 2007

Posted by AM @ 10:04 am

Categories: Fraud, Security, Software

Tags: Sample, Malicious Software, Viruses And Worms, Security, AM

AV Test reported that it saw 5.49 mln unique samples of malicious software in 2007, 5x more than the 972,606 it saw in 2006.

January 16th, 2008

57% of Americans still very concerned with credit card safety online

Posted by AM @ 6:52 pm

Categories: E-commerce, Fraud, Security

Tags: Credit Card, Sales Channel, Internet, Financial Services, Sales, AM

61% of adult Americans said they were very or extremely concerned about the privacy of personal information when buying online, an increase from 47% in 2006, University of Southern California’s Center for the Digital Future says. Concerns about credit card security have largely stabilized, with 57% very or extremely concerned in 2007. It was 53% in 2006. As of 2007, 67% of adult Internet users shop online, compared with just half a year earlier. Most spend $100 or less a month, and two-thirds of online shoppers have reduced buying at brick-and-mortar stores. Online parents are more likely than ever to withhold Internet use as punishment - 62% in 2007, compared with 47% a year earlier and 32% in 2000.

January 11th, 2008

66% of Americans believe their identity can be stolen while shopping online

Posted by AM @ 5:12 pm

Categories: Fraud

Tags: Victim, Identity, Identity Theft, Security, AM

57% of U.S. adults are concerned about being a victim of identity theft during the holiday season, and 66% believe they are more at risk when making purchases online, according to National Association of Insurance Commissioners. 32% of consumers were victims or knew someone who had been a victim of identity theft in the past five years, according to the survey of 500 adults, age 18 and older. Of those consumers, 46% said the identity theft exceeded $1,000.

January 3rd, 2008

$3.2 bln lost to phishing in 2007

Posted by site admin @ 12:51 pm

Categories: E-mail, Fraud, Security

Tags: Phishing, Cyberthreats, Spam, Viruses And Worms, Security, Spam And Phishing, site admin

Phishing attacks in the United States soared in 2007 as $3.2 bln was lost to these attacks, according to Gartner. 3.6 mln adults lost money in phishing attacks in the 12 months ending in August 2007, as compared with the 2.3 mln who did so the year before. Of consumers who received phishing e-mails in 2007, 3.3% say they lost money because of the attack, compared with 2.3% who lost money in 2006, and 2.9% who did so in 2005. The average dollar loss per incident declined to $886 from $1,244 lost on average in 2006 (with a median loss of $200 in 2007), but because there were more victims, $3.2 bln was lost to phishing in 2007, according to surveyed consumers. Some 1.6 mln adults recovered about 64% of their losses in 2007, up from the 54% that 1.5 mln adults recovered in 2006.

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December 19th, 2007

$3 bln lost to phishing in 2007

Posted by ZDNet Research @ 2:00 am

Categories: Fraud

Tags:

More than $3 bln was lost due to phishing attacks in 2007, according to Gartner. Between August 2006 and August 2007, 3.6 mln adults lost $3.2 bln due to phishing attacks. About 2.3 mln people were hit with phishing attacks in 2006.

November 28th, 2007

8.3 mln Americans had their identities stolen

Posted by ZDNet Research @ 2:00 am

Categories: Fraud

Tags:

4% of American adults were victims of identity theft in 2005, but half of them did not incur any out-of-pocket expenses, FTC said. Identity information was stolen from 8.3 mln US adults and most commonly used to access or open accounts for credit cards, bank checking, telephone service, e-mail, and medical insurance.

February 23rd, 2007

3.7% of Americans were victims of identity fraud in 2006

Posted by ZDNet Research @ 2:30 pm

Categories: Fraud

Tags:

Approximately 500,000 fewer adults in the United States fell victim to identity fraud in 2006 than in 2005. Of America’s overall adult population, 3.7% were victims, as compared to 4.0% in 2005. This demonstrates a continued year-over-year decrease since data was first collected in 2003 when 4.7% of the adult population was victimized. In terms of total dollars, identity fraud in 2007’s report dropped by an estimated 12% over the previous year, from $55.7 bln to $49.3 bln. New account fraud dropped from 1.5% of all respondents in 2006 to one% in 2007. When fraudulent accounts are opened, many victims caught the fraud more quickly utilizing online channels, such as the viewing of statements, resulting in average fraud amounts dropping from more than $10,000 in 2006 to $7,260 on average in 2007.

The overall adult population of the United States reported a fraud rate of 3.7%. Younger adults between 18 and 24 reported a much greater incident rate of 5.3%. Additionally, more than half of these victims reported knowing their perpetrators, which could include friends, neighbors or in-home employees, as compared to just 23% of overall respondents, Javelin says

February 8th, 2007

Top consumer complaints to FTC in 2006: identity theft, shop-at-home catalogues, lottery winnings

Posted by ZDNet Research @ 12:30 am

Categories: Fraud

Tags:

For the seventh year in a row, identity theft tops the list, accounting for 36 percent of the 674,354 complaints received between January 1 and December 31, 2006.