Internet Scams Exploit Panic After Quake

Internet scammers are exploiting the public’s fear and panic in the wake of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, says the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT), which operates as part of the US Department of Homeland Security to provide defense against cyber attacks.

The organization recently released a bulletin warning Internet users of potential e-mail scams as well as fake antivirus and phishing attacks related to the natural disasters in Japan.

Internet-based scams followed a similar pattern after other recent natural disasters. US-CERT is warning users to be on the lookout for the following types of scams.

Phishing

Phishing refers to e-mail messages that purport to be from a legitimate bank, financial institution, or other organization with which you may have an account. In the phishing e-mail, you are directed to click a web link or open an attachment in order to “verify your account information.”

Other phishing tactics include fake accusations requiring you to take some immediate action, phony online payment or auction messages asking for account details, or bogus messages from an IT department or government agency asking you to verify your identity. All phishing messages have one thing in common: they want your information or your money.

Never follow the directions of such messages, warns US-CERT. If you have questions about the authenticity of such a message, place a call to the institution in question or open a web browser separately and visit the company’s site to see whether any bulletins have been posted.

Antivirus Updates

Do not follow any pop-ups that advise you to click a link to update your antivirus software. If you run antivirus software, follow the normal procedures for refreshing its “signature” database. Chances are good that such updates occur in the background and will not require special intervention as a result of the disasters in Japan.

Fake Charities

After natural disasters,…

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Tags: after, Exploit, Internet, panic, quake, Scams

This entry was posted on Friday, March 18th, 2011 at 3:18 pm and is filed under More Science/Tech News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.