Spam and phishing attacks related to the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup soared by 27% in May compared to the previous month, according to Symantec research.
Symantec's latest 'state of spam and phishing report' shows globally, spam made up 89.81% of all e-mail messages in May, compared with 89.22% in April.
The security company says the Europe, Middle East and Africa region continues to expand its spam market share as the region distributed 48.1% of worldwide spam in May.
Symantec has derived its data based on messages passing through the Symantec Probe Network. Phishing data is aggregated from a combination of sources including strategic partners, customers and security solutions.
Gordon Love, Symantec's regional director for Africa, says: “During the Fifa World Cup Germany 2006, Germany saw a 60% increase over the entire period.
“Our expectation is that by the end of the month, SA will see a spam increase greater than that experienced at the Germany Soccer World Cup.”
Soccer scams
Symantec identified 419 scam messages as the major contributors of increased spam volumes relating to the Fifa World Cup.
The company reported that spammers are also sending out fake social network invitations to e-mail addresses in an attempt to lure the public to click on a link that redirects them to a spam Web site.
The security firm explains that cyber criminals are hijacking legitimate social network profiles on Facebook and Twitter to generate and spread spam messages. Spammers are also targeting third-party applications, infecting them with malware.
Symantec has issued warnings advising e-mail users to avoid clicking on suspicious links found in e-mails or instant messages, as these may link to malicious Web sites. In addition, users should avoid buying products or services from spam messages or fill out forms in e-mails that ask for personal and financial information.
According to Trend Micro, one major spam tactic instructs users to open and view a .DOC file attachment to learn more about the supposed Fifa-organised lottery, where recipients could win $550 000. However, users are asked to provide their personal and banking information to claim the prize.
naïve market
World Wide Worx research found the South African Internet user base grew by 15% last year, from 4.6 million Internet users to 5.3 million users, and this figure is expected to increase to reach the six million Internet subscriber mark this year.
Steven Ambrose, MD of World Wide Worx Strategy, explains that new Internet users are not as aware of the dangers of phishing e-mails as the more mature market of Internet users.
He says: “There may be 5.3 million people connected to the Internet, but only 3.5 million of these have been online for more than five years, and are now experienced users of the Internet. The remainder are not Internet-savvy and much more vulnerable to security threats.”
In addition, Ambrose points out, security threats in the form of phishing have become extremely sophisticated, and even experienced users who aren't being vigilant can fall for them.
Share