Deceptive methods that imitate traditional business practices continue to be utilized
One tactic cybercriminals are growing fonder of is imitating traditional business practices in an attempt to ensnare unsuspecting users. In today's world, business on the Internet is part of life. Cybercriminals recognize this and are clever enough to imitate business interactions. Even apart from business interactions, cybercriminals have figured out how to deceive people by presenting counterfeit messages. Examples of this include malicious advertisements or "malvertisements," which redirect people to malicious sites, or "scareware," which appear as antivirus scanners and scare people into thinking that their computer is infected when that's not really the case. The user is then lured into buying a fake product. Such deception is a prevalent security risk and is growing in use.
Internet threats continue to increase in volume and severity. It is important that computer users are on guard in order to make themselves less vulnerable to risks and threats. Staying abreast of the trends and developments taking place in online security is critical for both industry researchers and all computer users alike. ##
Zulfikar Ramzan is Technical Director, Symantec Security Technology and Response.