Cyber-criminals move with the times

Cyber-crooks are using new technologies and reinventing forms of social engineering to ensnare consumers and businesses, security experts warn.. Trend Micro's latest Threat Roundup and Forecast 1H 2008 found an upswing in web threats, but a steady decrease in adware and spyware generated by outdated methods which can no longer compete with high-level security. Social engineering tactics such as the Nigerian phishing scam have been around for decades, and cyber-criminals continue to refresh and modernise this form of trickery based on the latest trends. For example, the tools and technologies used to create the interactive nature of popular social networking sites have become a landmine for cybercrime. Malware variants have generally been treated as separate individual threats. But today, profit-motivated web threats blend... [read full story]