Spam and Phishing

The effective anti-botnet campaign of 2010 resulted in a considerable decrease in the percentage of spam in mail traffic. In 2011 the share of spam averaged 80.26% which continues a downward trend following a peak in 2009.

It’s that time of year again, time to fill out your taxes and pay your part. We’ve seen more than a few examples of Tax and IRS related spam.

In January, more than a month before Valentine’s Day, our spam lab usually starts registering the first emails exploiting the Valentine’s theme

It may not be in the same league as Christmas and New Year, but with every year Valentine’s Day is being exploited more and more by spammers

Malware wallpaper calendars for 2012

Kaspersky Lab malware researcher Tillmann Werner joins Ryan Naraine to talk about the threat from peer-to-peer botnets. The discussions range from botnet-takedown activities and the ongoing cat-and-mouse games to cope with the botnet menace.

At the time of writing there is a new Facebook phishing attack going on. It will not just try to steal your Facebook credentials; it will also try to steal credit card information and other important information such as security questions.

Director of Kaspersky Lab’s global research and analysis team Costin Raiu appears on Lab Matters to discuss the security ramifications of the growing dependence on cloud computing. The discussions center on the convenience of using consumer cloud services and some of the risks involved with outsourcing security to third-parties.

Scammers pretending to be Windows Security Support Technitians calling up people trying to trick them to install remote access tools now targeting Sweden.

“Profile me” bot is exploring all Twitpic hosted pictures replying to the authors with the same text phrase…

Fabio Assolini talks about the explosion of banker Trojans in Brazil and explains why it is so difficult to fight back against cyber-crime in the Latin American region.

This year’s attacks are somewhat different from previous years. This time round cybercriminals aren’t just going for hard cash – they are also looking for other assets that can be converted into money.

In developed countries, bank cards are very popular. Consumers don’t have to lug around wads of cash when they can opt for a slim piece of plastic that replaces a heavy purse or wallet.

Here’s the latest of our malware calendar wallpapers.

Kaspersky Lab malware analyst Dmitry Besthuzhev looks at cybercrime in Latin America and makes a prediction regarding state-sponsored cyber-attacks in the region.