Abney og Associates cyberkriminalitet: Vær på vakt mot offentlige Wi-Fi mens du er på ferie

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MONTREAL-reisende bør være skeptisk til cyber trusler på ferie som de tilgang til gratis trådløse nettverk med smartphones, tabletter eller bærbare datamaskiner, sier programvare garanti selskapet Symantec Corp

Kanadiere reiser for mars pause og i sommersesongen ikke burde gjøre ting som å trekke opp sine bankkonti på Wi-Fi-nettverk, sa Symantec Canadas Lynn Hargrove.

"Hva folk ikke vet er at det er ingen sikkerhet på disse Wi-Fi-nettverk for det meste," sa hun.

"Det er en fin måte å holde kontakten mens du er på ferie, men det er noen iboende risikoen som følger med det at folk ikke er bare tenker om."

Symantec har funnet det to i 10 kanadiere trekker opp sine bankkonti på gratis Wi-Fi-nettverk i Canada.

Unge menn er mest utsatt for cybercrime fordi de er "uredd" og få tilgang til risikabelt websteder, sa Hargrove, direktør for privatkunder løsninger, fra Toronto.

Ifølge Symantecs 2012 Norton Cybercrime rapport, er reisende ofte utsatt gjennom sine mobile enheter mens i utlandet, ofte for tekstmeldinger.

"Vi ser en masse falske tekster som ber deg om å klikke en kobling eller gå og slå et nummer for å hente en talemelding," sa Hargrove.

Og vell av informasjon som er lagret på en smartphone – bilder, tekster, e-post, kontaktlister, arbeidsdokumenter, bankinformasjon-kan være verdifulle for cyber kriminelle hvis stjålet eller mistet, sa Hargrove.

"Hva folk ikke realisere er at i mange tilfeller har de mer informasjon på enheten enn de har på hjemme-PC."

Smartphone-brukere bør minst ha et passord for å få tilgang til deres apparat, sa Hargrove, og det er også garanti programvare tilgjengelig for smartphones.

2012 Norton Cybercrime rapporten fant at 92 prosent av de spurte i Russland sa hadde de blitt ofre for datakriminalitet.

For kanadiere som reiser til Mexico eller Brasil, har hvert land en hastighet på 75 prosent av innbyggerne online å være tidligere ofre cybercrime, sa Hargrove.

I mindre utviklede land med mye gratis Wi-Fi-nettverk lagt det også en tendens til å være mye cybercrime, hun. Nettkriminalitet i Frankrike er 55 prosent, og det er 70 prosent i Canada, ifølge rapporten, som besiktiget 13,018 online voksne juli i fjor i 24 land, inkludert Canada, Australia, Brasil, Kina, Mexico, Polen Singapore, Tyrkia, Storbritannia og USA.

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Abney and Associates: Technical support scam comes to region

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Beverly King on Briercliff Lane received a phone call from a stranger recently. She said the man, who spoke with a heavy Indian accent, informed her of a virus infection in her computer but he was ready to fix the problem.

He told me his name was John Anderson and that he worked for Microsoft,” King said. “I didn’t believe that for a minute, but he was very insistent and almost demanded that I turn on my computer so I could see what he was saying. He got upset when I wouldn’t do it.”

King said it obvious to her the whole thing was a scam. She knew already that Microsoft “never makes cold calls about computers.” She was right. Microsoft states repeatedly and in many separate sources that they never call people about their computers.

Other Albany residents have reported receiving similar calls.

Almost certainly, King was the intended victim of an international “boiler room” scam originating in India. According to consumer information issued by the Federal Trade Commission, tens of thousands of people have been convinced to pay for needless “fixes” for malware or virus infections.

This is how it works, says the FTC: Organized scammers scan English-speaking phone books for likely victims. After getting their prospects to the phone, the scammers first claim they’ve detected malware on the prospects’ computers.

Then, according to an October 2012 article in “theguardian,” victims are directed to a program in their computer called “Event Viewer,” a standard part of the Windows operating system. That program displays logs of events occurring on the computer, sometimes with the label of “Warning” or “Error” which in fact have no significance to infection or the smooth running of the computer.

For many casual computer users, though, it’s convincing evidence. Victims are impressed enough to fork out $300 or more for a computer cleanup service they never needed.

He claimed he was in San Antonio Texas,” King said of her mysterious caller. “But the caller ID showed a California prefix.”

King told the scammer to take a hike — exactly the right response, officials say. In fact the FTC has been cracking down on the criminal operations, which are not only in the U.S, but also the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, simply because their targets are English-speaking.

According to “theguardian” article, a federal district judge froze the U.S. assets of 17 people and 14 companies that have been accused of taking part in the scam operations. The FTC has also shut down 80 Internet domain names and 130 phone numbers used in the US to conduct the scams.

In some cases, the article stated, the scammers provided antivirus software from reputable companies and installed new copies of Windows on the targeted computers. That allowed Microsoft to use the license keys for the purpose of tracing the software back to its buyers, thus aiding the investigation.

Theguardian article stated that some scammers have been charged with violating the FTC Act, which bars “unfair and deceptive” commercial practices, breaching the Telemarketing Sales Rule and illegally calling numbers that are on the National Do Not Call Registry.

The Albany Police Department has been notified of the emergence of virus scammers locally and are researching reports of the activity. Phyllis Banks, spokeswoman for the APD stressed the importance of reporting any suspected scam activity.

It’s important to have an accurate idea of what the problem is,” Banks said, “so we can issue appropriate warnings to the public.”

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