BOOKINGS for an annual Santa Train at a country park near Westbury have been lost as a result of a computer virus.

Sue Capon, director at Brokerswood Country Park, near Westbury, said staff went into work on Tuesday, September 30 to find the virus had attacked their computer system and destroyed all the information about who had booked the rides.

The attraction usually draws in around 3,000 people and Mrs Capon said they had been taking bookings since July, so up to 1,000 people had already secured places.

She said: “Everyone who has paid will have a receipt of payment and a computer generated ticket, so we want to appeal for them to come forward and tell us what they have booked.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 16:23

Despite new measures put in place by the internet service providers to fight the scourge of spam, thirty years on, the menace has grown into an underground industry that sends out billions of messages by the day, making up more than 80% of e-mail traffic
The trend which has continued to grow in geometric progression has remained a source of worry to both internet users and the service provides including yahoo, Microsoft, America Online, among others.

But after the first recognizable e-mail marketing message, according to record that was sent on 3 May, 1978 to 400 people on behalf of DEC - a now-defunct computer-maker, the ugly trend has remained unabated.

Viruses, spam, spyware - the list seems endless. Indeed, as technology becomes more sophisticated and accessible, so too do methods of corrupting them.

Statistics suggest that more than 80%-85% of all e-mail is spam or junk and more than 100 billion spam messages are sent every day globally. Further statistics gathered by the FBI suggest that 75% of net scams snare people through junk e-mail. In 2007 these cons netted criminals more than $239m (£121m).

Majority of these messages, according to findings, are being sent via hijacked home computers that have been compromised by a computer virus. A recent report from North Carolina State University, for instance, showed that most internet users are unable to tell the difference between genuine and fake pop-up messages.

Junk mail, according to IT experts, is used by hi-tech crime gangs as the vehicle for a variety of scams and cons. “Spam is a burden on all of us,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos in a media recent report “What’s worse is that a lot of spam is deliberately malicious today, aiming to steal your bank account information or install malware.” he added.

With almost half of all e-mail being reported as unsolicited, it is not surprising that spam tops the list of one of the most bothersome internet irritations..

However, with every internet user falling victim of this dangerous computer threat, the service providers appear helpless in bringing culprits to book even with the CAN Spam Act of 2003.

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them.

The law, which became effective January 1, 2004, covers e-mail whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site. A “transactional or relationship message” – email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship – may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the nation’s consumer protection agency, is authorized to enforce the CAN-SPAM Act. CAN-SPAM also gives the Department of Justice (DOJ) the authority to enforce its criminal sanctions. Other federal and state agencies can enforce the law against organizations under their jurisdiction, and companies that provide Internet access may sue violators, as well.

Spam, according to Vanguard Computers E-business check, is annoying and time-consuming to get rid of by hand as many of them may contain viruses and spy ware that can damage users’s computer.
Although most spam mail originate with advertisers looking to push their products, some are much more malicious in their intent.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 11:36

HUNCHED over a computer terminal in his pyjamas, "Frank" makes more money than a small-time drug dealer without ever having to worry about being caught or even leaving the house.

Constantly covering his tracks via a complex web of internet servers, he is part of a global network of cyber thieves who together fleece billions of dollars from unsuspecting internet users every year - using little more than an internet connection, free software and some spare time.

Speaking to the Herald on the condition of anonymity, he and other experienced hackers say banks' attempts to stamp out credit card theft are doomed due to the ease with which clients' computers can be compromised.

In today's e-commerce world, you can have your bank details stolen just by visiting your favourite websites. Hackers use automated tools to scan websites for vulnerabilities, injecting databases with a few lines of tainted code.

Whenever someone visits the compromised site, in the background their computer is redirected to a site hosting malicious code and infected with a virus, giving hackers backdoor access to the computer.

Among a plethora of nasty features, the virus reports back to the hacker with a log of every keystroke the victim makes.

The BusinessWeek website was the most recent high-profile victim in September, but security companies estimate hundreds of thousands of other reputable web pages, including some belonging to the United Nations, have been infected in recent months.

BusinessWeek fixed the problem after widespread publicity but not before thousands of visitors were potentially exposed.

Once a personal computer is infected, the hacker can control it remotely using a web application. The computer can then be brought into a botnet of "zombie" computers and be used to infect other machines.

"You can simply type in '.card' into the command line and it will display all credit cards used on that computer," said Odin, the administrator of the Evilzone.org online hacking forum where many online troublemakers talk shop.

"Which means any card you use for any website you go to, you're screwed, no matter if it has a little 'lock' to the right of the address bar saying that it is 'secure'."

Hackers can also infect computers by sending out spam emails with either the virus attached or a link in the body that is activated when clicked.

Makers of internet security programs are in a constant battle with virus writers to block the latest threats, but new variants appear constantly and even the most frequently updated anti-virus program cannot block all threats.

"If the virus is undetectable by anti-viruses, you can say it's the latest game from Epic Games and stick the virus onto the game," Odin said. "That is called binding, when you bind a program onto another program. Bind the virus with a worm and you've got 10-20 victims in the first hour."

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 11:08

State CIOs weigh in on cybersecurity progress.

From home computer users making sure they have anti-virus and anti-spyware installed, to protecting your kids from online predators, to backing up everything in case of a cyber attack, the federal governments wants you to be sure you're doing everything you can to protect your cyber assets.

"Back in 2004, at the inaugural Cyber Security Awareness Month, almost a third of the Americans polled believed they were more likely to be struck by lightning than to become a victim of a cyber attack or a security breach," Greg Garcia, Cybersecurity and Communications Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, said Thursday.

"The times really have changed. We're seeing now phishing, farming, botnets, Wi-Fi, war dialing and domain server spoofing. And we're seeing coordinated cyber attacks against nation states."

With IT systems and networks serving as the "nervous system" of the country's most critical infrastructures, such as food and water processing and purification plants, bridges, electricity generation, online banking, and dispatching emergency personnel, Garcia said, "protecting cyberspace, in my view, is as important to our national interests as protecting our land and our sea borders."

State chief information officers (CIOs) across the country are using this month to hammer home the message to their governments that development and protection of the IT structure is of utmost importance.

"It is utterly important to recognize that information technology not only enables the workings of the country's infrastructure … but also enables all of our commercial activity and as such there's a need for all the stakeholders to work together to ensure that the nation's IT infrastructure is secure," Gopal Khanna, Montana's CIO and president of the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) told HSToday.

State CIOs are responsible for leading technical solutions across their governments, and for coordinating efforts to keeping states' networks safe and secure.

Khanna said it's imperative state governments use a "coherent approach" in securing citizens' data and assets.

"The weakest link can disable the government's ability to deliver content in the classroom, payroll for employees, payouts for Human Services, information for police officers in police cars, and ability for first responders to respond in the case of a disaster," he said.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 17:09