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Spammers Use Steve Jobs Name For Scam

Spammer just aren’t like most people.  When the average tech enthusiast heard about the death of Steve Jobs, they felt reflective about all he accomplished in his life.  Spammers instead immediately concocted a scheme using his name and sent out the emails and the Facebook alerts.

These days, news travels fast.  This sense of urgency has extended to cyber criminals, who are using trending news to lure unsuspecting web surfers to bitter ends.  Facebook spammers hit up people’s walls with the incredible offer that Apple was going to give away 1,000 iPads as a tribute to jobs.  Excited victims helped spread the message to their friends.  Why did the offer go viral?  Because the scammers said that if they forwarded it to their friends, they would have a chance to win the free iPad.

Beware Of Online Scams

Of course there was no free iPad, as many of you already guessed.

Social Engineering Claims More Victims

This type of attack uses social engineering in order to get users to divulge information they normally wouldn’t.  Using an emotional appeal at a time of heightened urgency seems to get people excited enough to forget their common sense and do the unthinkable. This happens so often, it truly is remarkable.  Scammers are only getting bolder as their efforts to continue to pay off.

Social engineering works. That’s why cyber criminals keep using the method and that’s why companies need to add security measures that can stop this type of attack from happening. Relying on ‘education’ to cure the problem never works. You need automated enforcement to ensure continuous compliance.

Web Security Is The Answer

Web security is the answer to the problem.  There’s a war going on between IT and cyber criminals and the odds keep going up.  Cyber criminals are no longer ‘script kiddies’ who are fascinated by the idea of gaining unauthorized access to a computer.  They are ruthless gangs organized for profit based on using ‘any means necessary.’  Their tactics are devious and only a truly well-defended network can expect to survive the onslaught of attacks they continue to unleash.

When the answer is so simple, why are so many corporate networks open for abuse?

In light of these type of attacks where scammers leverage a big name news story to accomplish their aims, the time for web security is dawning.  The technology is up to the challenge, and using a SaaS licensing model, the solutions are affordable for all organizations because they’re offered on a ‘per seat license’ basis.

Solve your web security issue today.  Request a quote on web security.

About Darren McLaughlin

I'm the President of MostHost Inc. I'm interested in cloud hosting, email security, social media, cats, business development, and my wife Heather. | |

Comments

  1. [...] Spammers Use Steve Jobs Name For Scam.  Scammers use the name of Steve Jobs’ to lure victims.  In a growing trend, spammers are using trending news stories to snare victims.  This time they said Apple was giving away 1,000 iPads in memory of Steve Jobs. People were supposed to forward the message to their friends to be ‘entered into the drawing,’ which they did. LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", "other"); LD_AddCustomAttr("LangId", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Autotag", "business"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Autotag", "money"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Autotag", "technology"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Tag", "technology"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Tag", "apple"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Tag", "scam"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Tag", "security"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Tag", "spammers"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Tag", "steve-jobs"); LD_AddSlot("wpcom_below_post"); LD_GetBids(); Like this:LikeBe the first to like this post. This entry was posted in Technology and tagged Apple, Scam, Security, Spammers, Steve Jobs by lupelasano. Bookmark the permalink. [...]

  2. [...] spammers and malcontents are always willing to take advantage of unknowing internet users using tactics that include using top headline news to lure people to click on malicious links, even [...]