Keep Your Identity Safe

Today, we issued a release on the proliferation of identity theft malware during times of economic crisis. Our research found that the number of users affected by malware designed for identity theft has increased 600 percent this year compared to the same time in 2008.PandaLabs receives nearly 37,000 samples of new viruses, worms, Trojans and other types of Internet threats each day. Of these, 71 percent are Trojans, mostly aimed at stealing bank details or credit card numbers, as well as passwords for other commercial services. Between January and July 2009, PandaLabs received 11 million new threats, approximately 8 million of which were Trojans. This is in clear contrast, for example, to the average of 51 percent of new Trojans that PandaLabs received in 2007. PandaLabs estimates that approximately three percent of all users have fallen victim to these techniques. The problem with these types of threats, unlike traditional viruses of the past, is that they are designed to go undetected, and therefore users do not realize they have become victims until it is too late. To avoid falling victim to identity theft, we recommend consumers follow these preventive measures: 1. Be aware of any kind of message that requests personal data from you. It is extremely improbable that online banks, payment platforms or social networks will ever send messages (emails, texts, (continue reading...)