မႀတ္တမ္းမႀတ္ရာ လုပ္ေဆာင္မႁ
Spammers taking advantage of disasters in Burma and China
Global Secure Systems, an internet security firm has reported that spammers are exploiting the tragedies that struck Burma and China recently.
A town damaged by Cyclone Nargis on May 22, 2008 is seen in this aerial view in the Irrawaddy delta, Myanmar from the helicopter carrying United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
May 23rd, 2008
They are sending phishing emails and Trojans disguised as news reports and donation requests to help people affected by the tragedies.
Other internet security firms have also reported these incidents. Burma and China were recently struck by cyclone and earthquake respectively in which thousands of people died.
David Hobson, managing director at Global Secure Systems said:
"There are number of requests for companies to donate funds to disaster relief organisations being sent via email. Unfortunately, most of these email appeals are actually phishing requests. Anyone ‘donating’ via the suggested sites may find themselves asked for a variety of personal and/or company information which could be used for identity theft."
Sophos, another security firm has confirmed it by saying there has been a new wave of phishing emails after these incidents. In fact case they have also sent a Trojan to infect PCs.
According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos:
"To avoid falling victim, computer users need to use their common sense and not open emails from people they don’t know. By deleting them straight away, you are cutting the fraudsters off before they even have the chance to trick you into giving them money as they pose as victims of the tragedy, or try and install malware on your computer."
Security expert Jim Clausing from SANS Internet Storm Centre was of the view that not all of these emails may be spam but advised users to stick to the established charities through their main web pages or the phone if they really want to help.