Online scammers go spear-phishin'

A new kind of fraud, dubbed "spear-phishing," has emerged and raised alarms among the digital world's watchdogs.
The New York Times

The story "Online scammers go spear-phishin'" published December 4, 2005 at 4:45 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.

[chabig83]

Things the victims had in common...

"While the Israeli victims were diverse, they shared one thing in
common..."

Actually, there was a second thing they had in common--they were
all running Microsoft Windows!

[jerseyrich]

More importantly.....

Actually, more importantly than the fact they allused Windows is the fact that they all inserted CD-ROMs into their machines that they did not KNOW were safe. Both Windows and Mac users are equally susceptible in this way.

[maxl311]

Oops... forgot to mention that none of those Trojan programs run on a Mac

Interesting story -- except it never once mentions that none of
these problems would have occurred had the victims been using
Mac OS X rather than Windows. Pathetic, really, that a story like
this makes it sound like these problems affect all users. There
are 15 miliion OS X users who can rest easier knowing that they
are using an inherently more secure system for which no
(=ZERO) spyware or viruses currently exist.

Windows just has too many security holes that make it too easy
to install malware like Trojan Horses and keyloggers without
even asking the user for an administrator password. The best
advice to avoid all malware such as victimized these people is to
ditch Windows and buy a Mac. It's actually quite easy to do. Not
only will you have a more secure system, you will also have a
more stable and usable system as well.

[rbannon]

Us too . . .

Yes, I agree, Windows is a sinking ship. However, Mac OS X is also
susceptible to phishing attacks. It's a matter of time before
someone creates an attack on the Mac OS X platform.

P.S.: I'm a long time (since the mid-eighties) Mac user.

[zaznet]

Trojans vs Phishing.

You speak of the software, not ALL of the problems listed in the article. Mac users are no less safe from Phishing than any other group. You could be using BeOS and still fall victim to Phishing schemes.

I'm not afraid to receive e-mail from strangers

Watching someone attack your e-mail system can be an interesting experience. Watching them successfully breach all your technology in an e-mail attack is an educational experience. You quickly learn that although the best technology can protect you most of the time, the final line of defence is a well educated end user.

We recently experienced a minor flood of spam e-mails which carried the Mytob Worm as an attachment. All but one of the e-mails were flagged as containing Mytob and safely shunted off into a holding area.

But one got through to my desktop. That it managed to evade our spam and virus filters amply demonstrates why you cannot solely depend upon technology to protect your computing resources. Even so, the Linux OS I run doesn't leave me vulnerable to this type of attack.

[Marcus Westrup]

You are fooling yourself.

There ARE trojans that run on the Mac, and most versions of linux, unix, etc. These trojans were targeted at specific users: A Mac user would just get a Mac version.
Don't fall into the trap of thinking your machine, or your software is somehow immune from bad code. Not these days.

[gabetiger]

DOESN"T RUN ON MAC

Not suprising. there two different formats. I don't think macs are any more stable than IBM based dos's. Mac just locks in what it will allow a user to do there buy eliminating the ability to run with variants. But don't worry as soon as there are enough macs out there to make it worth there while the bad guys will find a way into them too!

[R. U. Sirius]

Not quite

You should download and run Macscan to make sure you're not being played for a fool.

BTW, I am a Mac user, but don't think you're not vulnerable to spyware:

Ask yourself these questions:

* Can you trust everyone who uses your computer?
* Did you purchase a used computer?
* Could there be software intruders lurking about your machine?
* Do you understand every shareware program you install?
* Are you worried about hackers or email Trojans being installed without your knowledge?

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.user-groups.net/shareware/macscan.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.user-groups.net/shareware/macscan.html</a>

[No_Man]

Be fair...

I'm a Mac user myself and understand what you're saying.
However, to be fair, all operating systems have flaws... including
OS X. In fact, it's very possible it has even more security flaws
than Windows. However, since the Mac market share is so low,
neither criminal hackers nor legitmate security firms have
bothered to take the time to investigate this possibility. It just
isn't profitable. Thus, Mac users float in the blissful ignorance of
minority status. Enjoy it while it lasts. Every Windows flaw drives
more people to our platform, and every person that becomes a
Mac user raises the possibility of an attack on the Mac. It's only a
matter of time.

[Earl Benser]

You should do a bit of reading....

... on the programming histories of OS X and Windows. Then you
would see the difference that alternate development goals can
create. OS X was created to be a solid OS using proven Unix
elements as a base. Windows was created to be a marketing tool to
ensure the sale of MS programs other than Windows. That's where
MS lost sight of security requirements.

OS X isn't perfect, but WIndows is a natural born target = it was
created with the bulls-eye already installed.

[Jonthin]

Windows is THE problem

It is no good people defending Windows by saying no criminals
bother with Apple Mac's OSX. This article is about spear-phishin,
ie attacking one person at a time in a targeted attack - any
computer user is as good as the next...surely?

The real problem is that after four years, and not one successful
attack, we now know that Mac OSX is rock solid, and against it
we can see just how much Windows stinks.

OSX is inherently secure just as Windows is inherently NOT
secure.

[afterhours]

As a Mac user, I'm offended by this idiocy

Anyone, and I mean ANYONE can fall for the phishing scams.
The trojan in this story is reason enough to abandon Windows
-- but there is nothing stopping a good phisher from coding a
trojan for a Mac, and a hoard of dumb switchers blindly
authenticating the installation of such a keylogger on a Mac as
the admin user. This is social engineering, not a protection the
Mac magically affords. Macs are far better computers -- there is
no argument with that. But there is nothing protecting us from
stupid users the world over. People respond to the Nigerian
scams because of greed. People respond to the eBay and Paypal
scams because of a lack of scepticism. There's one born every
minute, and buying a Mac doesn't magically make them smarter.

[markdoiron]

Any computer user is as good as the next--Not!

i disagree, j tilney, that any computer user is as good as the next. if you're targeting business intelligence, as this article discusses, then you're going to target the computers being used for that business.

mark d.

[cubesquared]

They know MAC users...

Why tap a computer owned be a guy who's too broke to have anything worth stealing.

[webdev511]

It's Social Engineering Not Windows

It doesn't take a Windows OS to fall for social engineering. Yes, there are plenty of things in Windoze, Internet Exploiter, and even Firefox that do nothing to help a victim realize they're being scammed. XP SP2's firewall, anti-spyware apps, anti-virus, all help, but the user still has the ability to bypass those potential safe guards.

Personally I believe the biggest failure is that the industry has scarified security for "fast and easy to use". Sorry folks, but the internet isn't the big happy safe place it used to be. Just like you wouldn't leave your keys in your car, or wallet on your front step, we're going to have to learn to secure our information.

Too bad there's no constitutional right to privacy. It wouldn't fix everything, but it sure wouldn't hurt.

[kmiles]

Reinfected?

Did the Trojan horse survive Jackont's reformat or was he reinfected?

[markdoiron]

Puzzled Me, Too

i was wondering the same thing myself, Kyle. i sure wish the author had been more specific on if that happened, and how it happened. furthermore, if one felt their computer was subject to such an attack, is he hosed, or is there something that can be done to be rid of the pest (such as repartition the drive)?

in all fairness, it is a ny times article, not cnet.

mark d.

[EvlD99]

Not sure

The article wasn't really clear on whether or not he actually reformated.

On another note I have to agree with Joshua Ketelsen's comment. The same thing has happpened to Firefox as it has gained market share.

[booboo1243]

Israeli Trojan

Why is this even news? All this fuss over spyware. All you need to do is take a few simple precautions and have some up-to-date anti-spyware detecters and cleaners on your PC.
People deserve it if they think its someone elses problem.

[markdoiron]

Which One Worked Against Sony CDs?

could you please let me know which av/spyware detector would protect one against the sony rootkit infected cd's? please recommend something that lots of folks are using, not an obscure rootkit detector that the general public is unaware of (because you did say it's a "simple precaution").

mark d.

[markdoiron]

Remember Those Intel Pentium S/Ns?

this was my major objection to the intel pentium s/n effort, which thankfully died an ignominious death: if someone wanted to target a specific computer, they could with some type of virus/worm/trojan directed at that specific computer.

a similar threat still exists, not quite as great, with static ip addresses, and with mac id numbers.

anonymity isn't just to protect the miscreants, complainers and whistle-blowers; it can protect every presence on the internet.

mark d.

[208774626618253979477959487856]

go scammers!

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