Spam is getting criminal attention

This article is from McAfee!

Experts confirm spam link to criminal conduct

Monday, February 25th, 2008 at 1:49pm by David DeWalt

In a recent speech before the Direct Marketing Association, Eileen Harrington, the Deputy Director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection said that the most problematic spam now is tied to criminal conduct.

This statement really resonated with me and confirms what we've been seeing for a while now. Spam is now much more than a nuisance that clogs up corporate networks; it is a key weapon used by cyber crooks to target unsuspecting consumers and this makes it a major threat to individuals and businesses alike.

When it comes to managing spam, the mantra has traditionally been just don't click on it! But the problem now is that cyber crooks are getting smarter. The bad guys are employing sophisticated and more localized social engineering techniques that many people simply don't realize that the emails they are receiving are spam.

We're seeing the "quality" of the content both in terms of language and presentation increasing and making it more difficult for unsuspecting users to tell whether it's legitimate or not. This is a trend our researchers identified in the latest global Sage report.

The bad guys may have gotten smarter, but so have the good guys, and we can beat them. Consumers need to be careful, and businesses need to take a holistic approach to their technology solution.

And while there is no silver bullet to stop cyber crime, I applaud the Federal Trade Commission for highlighting the issue of spam and the steps it is taking in the global fight against cyber crime.