Investors Warned Of Phishing Scams

Canada's Investment Dealers Association (IDA) has cautioned cyber- dealers that they might have fallen prey to phishing scam or malware strikes, which might have permitted illegal entry into their accounts to control the value of shares.

Security agencies haven't corroborated the technique of entry into accounts but have hinted about a potential strike by phishing scams, malevolent programs or a "rogue" Internet sites corresponding to the site of genuine shareholders. Just two accounts have been infected, as per the IDA.

Among the cases informed to the IDA, customer databases were stolen. The assets were then utilized to put purchase instructions for particular securities registered on the OTC Notice Board or NASDAQ pink sheets. IDA has instructed investors to guard their accounts against dubious actions. Customers might have disclosed their personal info unsuspectingly, due to phishing and malware attacks on their systems.

It seems that customers might have unintentionally released data to individuals who later on arrogated their accounts. In many cases, the deals were decided before the customers' got inkling about the online violation of their email accounts. Companies have by now begun encountering objections in this affair.

"The safety of the account network itself wasn't exposed," said Alex Popovic, vice-president, IDA. "Negotiating to enter would require encoding, but the main drawback is the individual gaining access and in someway revealing their password. It occurs in the case of banking accounts , credit or debit cards, and is definitely an essential part of trading over the net," he mused.

The matter has once more aroused apprehensions about safety of Internet banking and trading precautions and might convince people to avoid it, producing grave financial losses to organizations globally.

Symantec Security Response's Vice Hwang suspected cyber-terrorists of employing a blend of gaps in Microsoft's OS and phishing scams to hit the computers by setting up keyloggers or other editions to wheedle out classified information. As, the purpose behind an attack is profit instead of infamy, offensives are getting more hi-tech. He also alerted about sites and emails that install content or contacts to confirm status or safeguard your account that could deceive even well-informed PC users.

Related article: Infection in Chinese Security Website

» SPAMfighter News - 8/30/2006