Cybercriminals Catch up With the Digital Landscape

The World Cancer Research Fund has recently released its statement regarding a story being circulated in social media and blogs about processed meat and cancer. The said piece was widespread that they had to step in and make their official statement. But what is striking is how users get their information these days.

It is no surprise that social media sites is now considered a news source by most people, with most people sharing, tweeting, pinning stories and news items via their accounts. None has this in spades more than Facebook, which has an estimated billion active users per month and 4.7 million content items shared by its users everyday.

Because of the impressive online presence (like in social media), cybercriminals see this as a potential moneymaker. More users equal more possible victims. And just this May, we’ve seen several noteworthy threats that prove that the bad guys are not slowing down:

Early in May, we reported about several fake Iron Man 3 streaming sites sprouted across the web employing social media – in this case, Tumblr and Facebook – to spread their baits. Such social engineering tactics continue to work because summer flicks like Iron Man appeal to users and can be effective social engineering lures.
Because of their increasing popularity, it is not a surprise to see scams for mobile platform. Just this month, we noted the fake free Instagram followers ruse, which in the end leads users to download a mobile malware capable of gathering and selling data stolen from the infected device.
As majority of financial transactions these days are done over the Internet (e.g. online banking, shopping etc.), banking and e-commerce sites are natural cybercrime targets. Just a few weeks ago, we saw how online banking users in Brazil, were targeted by cybercriminals using fake homemade browser. From this incident, we uncovered the use of effective social engineering tactics that lured users to unintentionally disclose their Banco do Brasil login credentials.
Recently, we also saw how mobile ads in Android apps actually led to scam sites aimed at defrauding users and stealing their money. Although the incident was limited to Chinese users, it’s highly plausible similar attacks could occur in other parts of the world.

But the immediate question that comes to mind is how big web threats are. In our infographic, Are You Safe Online?, we provide an overview of the current threat landscape vis-à-vis the boom in contemporary online engagement. Based on this, we noticed a direct correlation between the two: the more we do things online, the more threats are likely to materialize.

The upside to all this is that we see more software vendors, social media sites and organizations offering added and improved security measures. But as commendable as these developments are, users must also do their share.

As June is declared as the National Internet Safety Month by the National Cyber Security Alliance, Internet users are reminded of simple steps that they can do to stay safe. Other practices like bookmarking reputable sites and regular system updating can go a long way. Treat your mobile devices like your PC that can be open to online threats.

To check out the full infographic, please click the thumbnail below: