Its a new year, people with new ideas, new plans regarding all phases of life but there are some people or rather losers who will remain losers forever with their boring, bogus and old ideas.
Same is happening with cyber criminals trying to hack MSN/Hotmail user’s email with old idea of sending fake email containing account breach warnings.
Take an example of this email where sender is claiming to be a MSN/Hotmail representative and urging the user to reply via email with their full name, username, password, date of birth and country in order to confirm their identity
We have recently confirmed that different computers have logged onto your Hotmail and MSN account and multiple password errors have been entered. We are hereby suspending your account; as it has been used for fraudulent purposes. Now we need you to reconfirm your account information to us. Click your reply tab, fill in the columns below and send it back to us or your email account will be suspended permanently.
As you can see the email came from a bogus @msn.com asking for users to put their account information, off course any internet savvy will not buy the trick, but new users probably fill the form and send their password to the hacker.
The chances of filling the form and getting your email hacked are less then 5% but this article may helps the new users from loosing their email. Spread the word and make sure your friends and family members are up to date and aware of ongoing hacking scams.
Going forward, simple phishing like the MSN gambit is becoming less effective as users begin to recognize the clues. In its place will be more targeted attacks. Rohyt Belani, CEO at PhishMe, said that:
If 2012 was the year of BYOD “2013 will be the year of mobile malware designed to take advantage of it. We have seen a growth in consumer apps that violate privacy, for example by tracking your GPS data, but in 2013 we will see criminals targeting mobile device users, specifically with the intention of getting inside their corporate email system.