Beware of Targeted Scams and Phishing Attacks!

According to Symantec’s latest State of Spam and Phishing report, scam and phishing messages accounted for 21 percent of all spam, which is the highest level recorded since the inception of the report. For comparison, these types of spam represented only 10 percent of total spam a year ago.
Historically, the primary vector for spam attacks was to blast out as many messages as possible, hoping that someone would open a message and click on the call to action. The call to action could be anything from clicking on a link to purchase medications, to visiting an adult website. While we continue to see high volumes of spam originating from expansive botnets, spammers are also moving towards a sophisticated and more targeted approach to spam. Two primary examples of this trend are 419/Nigerian type scams and phishing messages.
While 419 spam (a.k.a., the Nigerian scam) has been around for a long time, the content that the spammer uses to trick the email recipient has evolved over time. In the early days, spammers used the “next of kin” approach: a message would inform the user that some wealthy person died with no next of kin, and someone (the user) must file a claim to gain access to the massive inheritance. Spammers also used the “international lotto” technique: a message would inform the user that s/he has been (continue reading...)