Cyber-Criminals Striking Legit Web Domain Owners as Revenge

According to security experts, a latest phishing attack that targets authentic website domain owners is finding its way out. It can be a result of the efforts aimed at the termination of a villainous domain registrar, which is well-known in the community of spammers and malware creators.

Phishing e-mails, apparently from the genuine registrars Network Solutions Inc. and eNom, are intended to fool the domain name owners by urging them to disclose their account details. The purported e-mail from eNom claims that it is going to conduct database and data center maintenance, while that from Network Solutions directs the customers to renew their expired domain registrations.

However, both the bogus e-mails advised the recipients to open the given link and enter their domain name and contact details so as to claim the funds. The e-mail assures its legitimacy to the recipients by asking them to key in Account Manager in case of incorrect contact details and further asking them to make the apposite changes before submission.

According to security experts, the timing of this phishing attack, complemented by apparently professional and legitimate messages and bogus web pages, cannot be a mere coincidence. They further stated that it might have been done by the concerned customers of EstDomains, whom the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) shut down as an Internet domain registrar in the last week of October 2008.

The spammers, fraudulent antivirus writers and several other cyber-criminals are always eager to grab every single chance to make their business prosper. Thus, the decision of shutting down the EstDomains has served as a golden opportunity for them to spread nuisance. Further, the domain slammers, who were working jointly with phishers, are now circulating bogus notices themselves.

However, the exact number of users interacting with such fake e-mails by submitting bogus information still remains unknown. On the other side, the cyber-criminals are constantly applying essential quality assurance procedures in order to ensure the collection of only valid credit card details. Consequently, they restrict any opportunity for the researchers and ultimate users to destroy their illegal campaigns.

Related article: Cyber Child abuser Sentenced To Imprisonment

» SPAMfighter News - 11/19/2008