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Well, it didn’t take long for the Christmas E-Card scams to start. Recently we have seen email messages pretending to be from Hallmark, suggesting that you have received an E-card from a friend. The complete email message looks like this:You have recieved a Hallmark E-Card from your friend. To see it, check the link below: http://www.hallmark.com/webapp/wcs/stores/Occasion/ChristmasE-CardsThere’s something special about that E-Card feeling. We invite you to make a friend’s day and send one.Hope to see you soon, Your friends at Hallmark ...

ProtectPC’s is a nasty rogue antivirus program, or phony security software, used to scam people out of their money. If your PC is infected with ProtectPC’s you should remove it immediately. ProtecPC’s poses a serious security risk for all PC users. Symptoms of a ProtecPC infection can include: Web Browser redirecting spontaneously System scans that result in reports showing multiple infections Pop-Ups and system alerts stating the PC is infected Programs being shut down or unable to open Click Here to learn how to remove these kind of malware.

Malware Defense is a rogue security program, designed to look like legitimate security software. If Malware Defense has been installed on your PC more than likely you did not intentionally download it, it just appeared one day. Malware Defense usually infects a computer system with help from malicious advertising or a trojan found on a shady website. Malware Defense usually infects unsuspecting users PC’s without permission. Malware Defense is a scam, do not buy this software, it should be removed from infected computers immediately. ...

The holidays are nearly here! If you’re still searching for the final perfect present, and are thinking of buying online, here’s a few practical tips to help keep your last-minute purchases secure: Keep your Internet Security solution updated, not just to the day but to the hour! They release frequent updates to make sure you’re protected from the very newest malware. Scan your system before you start shopping. Don’t shop from public WiFi networks which aren’t secured using WPA2. These networks can be easily hijacked by cybercriminals, and your sensitive financial data could be compromised. ...

System Adware Scanner 2010 is phony security software, made to look and act like legitimate security software. System Adware Scanner 2010 is a potentially very dangerous PC infection that should be removed from infected systems immediately. System Adware Scanner 2010 usually uses false security warnings and alerts to frighten people into buying the software. System Adware Scan 2010 will run system scans and report numerous infections to the user, which are false. System Adware Scanner 2010 will then request payment to remove the supposed infections. ...

Those looking to see the latest 3D blockbuster movie, The Avatar, on the cheap will have to take great care in what they search for. We have become aware of at least one site that has been rigged to redirect users to a page that presents the now-familiar “play video/need codec” screen. In an unusual twist, this time it is offering a new ActiveX update rather than the usual codec or Flash player updates. ...

Data Doctor 2010, an encryption trojan via our old “friends” iframedollars. It encrypts the files on your hard drive very rapidly if you’re unfortunate enough to be victimized by it. It arrives through drive by downloads from malicious web sites. It’s also packaged with other malware. The victim receives a message that the system is shutting down due to “Unrecognized disk driver command.” His system is then re-booted to safe mode and a message is displayed: “Windows has recovered from a serious error. Some files can be corrupted. Disk checking is strongly recommended.” ...

Almost the entire year 2009, the battle for the first place on phishing targets took place between Ebay and Chase Bank. Most of the time, the Chase Bank was on top of the most phished brands. In December, the situation was changed: Now PayPal is the most phished brand (32205 unique URLs) followed from far away by the Chase Bank (25901 unique URLs) and Ebay (18738 unique URLs). ...

As was announced on Dec 11th, CNNIC (China Internet Network Information Center) now requires a “formal paper based application material when making the online application to the registrar.” The motivation behind this seems more related to cracking down on porn sites, but since .cn domains have been the call-to-action in 35-50% of all spam being sent for well over a year, we were wondering what effect this policy change may have on the prevalence of this TLD in spam. The graph below illustrates the percentage of spam messages sent each day that contain a .cn domain (vast majority are Canadian Pharmacy type spam) as well as the percentage of pharmacy spam messages sent that contain a link to a free webhosting service (blue). I decided to measure the .cn abuse, against free webhosting abuse, as the same Canadian Pharmacy spam that contained links to .cn domains for the past few months, now contain links to a number of free webhosting services instead. The CNNIC changes started to be applied on December 14th. ...

Earlier in 2009, the Microsoft privacy homepage became the target of rogue security software developers looking to make a fast buck. The developers of the rogue security application known as “Privacy Center” even went so far as to include a link to Microsoft to trick users into thinking the rogue is a Microsoft product. Trojan:Win32/PrivacyCenter is a family of programs that claims to scan for malware and displays fake warnings of “malicious programs and viruses”. They then inform the user that they need to pay money to register the software in order to remove these non-existent threats. ...