Las Vegas Among Top Cities for Cyber Crime

LAS VEGAS - The growing number of cyber crimes is not hard to compute. Elisabeth Daniels with Nevada's Fight Fraud Task Force says criminals don't have to be programmers to capitalize on how people connect.

"Credit card fraud and piracy, malware that is installed on your system and can be used for identity theft," she said. "When we deal with unemployment and accessibility of computers and other countries in the world, then you might see people taking up this type of activity."

A new study by Norton and Sperling's BestPlaces ranked the 50 riskiest online cities in the U.S. Las Vegas, which used to be in the top 10, ranks 11th.

"Certainly, we would want to be much lower on the scale than that, but I think it suggests that we're going in the right direction," Daniels said.

The report says we are more connected than ever, and that makes being victimized easier. The study analyzed consumer behavior, e-commerce, social networking and the prevalence of personal computers and smart phones.

Rob Tyree with Fiberhub, a managed IT company, is on the front lines when it comes to protecting against cyber crimes and disasters.

"Protecting yourself from cyber crime is really mostly about common sense," he said.

An obvious defense is to create unique and complex passwords. Tyree also says it's best to avoid public Wi-Fi hot spots.

"I would not recommend accessing any secure websites like your bank or anything like that," he said. "If it's something that doesn't seem like it'd be safe, don't do it."

Even as cyber crimes grow, the state's Fight Fraud Task Force says investigators are becoming more sophisticated at tracking down criminals.

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Source: http://www.8newsnow.com/story/16988159/las-vegas-among-top-cities-for-cyber-crime

Cybercriminals Selling Facebook, Twitter Logins via 'Factory Outlets'

Robbing identification details through malware like Zeus and SpyEye has become extremely easy, and leaves cybercriminals with excess information. According to InformationWeek's news published on February 9, 2012, two gangs of hackers are selling Facebook, Twitter, and cPanel login details in bulk rates to clear their inventories.

In their promotions, hackers are selling login details, even the personal email addresses of users all over the globe. The information is being sold in bulk in certain countries like the US, the UK and Germany. An advertisement by a botnet operator sells cPanel details and URLs which would permit users to extort control of duped websites.

Trusteer vice president (marketing) Yishay Yovel said that it was very appealing with cPanel run software for websites. After gaining an access to user details for this application, it would be easier for attackers to contaminate websites.

Usually, the most precious stolen credentials are for online banking sites, but gradually more bank Trojans like Zeus seem to be copying logins for other important websites too. Apparently, hackers are willing to collect each login that they locate on a victim's system, considering that these details would be important to someone at some point.

Such developments offer a pane into the huge cybercrime aftermarket that has grown on the internet due to advanced malicious software, Trusteer CTO Amit Klein was quoted as saying this by Techworld. Be it mass login details or pre-built web-injects, hackers have an extraordinary store of tools today to assault banks and enterprises. These cybercriminals can exploit cPanel details to install malicious code on websites which can utilize browser vulnerabilities and contaminate systems through drive-by-downloads. By making use of phishing electronic mails and social network posts, hackers can attract unwary users to these websites.

In last few years, there has been a rise in social-engineering-based cons. Malicious software writers persistently throw a broad net while picking ways of assault to reach maximum targets. Web crime operations are intended to cripple systems and filch private data, but their initial aim is to arrive at the victim. When they know the profile of their victims, they try all methods to raise their chances of victory and trick users into playing alongside.

» SPAMfighter News - 22-02-2012

 Source: http://www.spamfighter.com/News-17444-Cybercriminals-Selling-Facebook-Twitter-Logins-via-'Factory-Outlets'.htm

Good Morning!

Welcome to the first of many posts on my blog. 

My name is Pam and I'm starting this blog to help inform others on online safety, cyber-crime, scams and how to prevent from becoming a victim. We must remember that knowledge is our best defense with online scams. 

As someone who works at an internet company, I know how much at risk people can be with their identity. I also know how hard it is to monitor yourself online, let alone monitor a whole family or your children which can be a whole other blog on its own. 

I hope you enjoy and  keep up with me. 

You can also follow me on Twitter: @PamVelazquez89