Giving is better than receiving, the Good Book says, and that's certainly the case with some of the extras one gets with counterfeit software and Web sites - which look, feel and sometimes even function like the real thing, but aren't.
We've all been warned - often - by the likes of the Business Software Alliance about the dangers of pirated and counterfeit software and no doubt will get more PR on the subject in the new year.
However, it bears reminding that even sophisticated consumers and "cybernauts" can get caught, as a colleague recounts: "I nearly got caught by a phishing attempt recently. I had just made a purchase using the PayPal service when I received an e-mail saying there had been fraudulent activity on my account.
"The mail looked genuine and I wasn't really paying attention. I knew that I had used PayPal in the last 10 days and I was quite annoyed that maybe something had gone wrong with it," the colleague says.
It bears reminding that even sophisticated consumers and "cybernauts" can get caught
Leon Engelbrecht, senior writer, ITWeb
"Blame it on lack of concentration, but I very nearly followed the link and filled in my account details. Needless to say, although the e-mail had PayPal graphics and layout, the link went to some arbitrary site in Eastern Europe run by the phishers."
Research conducted by IDC on a Microsoft sponsorship has found that 25% of Web sites offering counterfeit product keys, pirated software, key generators or crack tools attempted to install either malicious software (malware) or potentially unwanted software. The October 2006 White Paper adds that 11% of the key generators and crack tools downloaded from Web sites contained either malicious or potentially unwanted software and 59% of the key generators and crack tools downloaded from peer-to-peer networks were similarly infected.
Financial way
In years past, malware was the preferred route to online notoriety or for gaining bragging rights, but last year Trend Micro found malicious behaviour was now largely motivated by financial gain.
The IDC white paper says that, in July last year, Websense Security Labs discovered a fraudulent World Cup 2006 Soccer Web site that would infect visitors with a Trojan that downloaded additional software.
"The site used a toolkit, called Web Attacker, sold by a Russian Web site. The tool includes a graphic user interface and the ability to collect statistics on infections created. Attackers are finding new and better ways to compress files, link multiple sets of malicious code together, for example by using one Trojan to download another, and even sending malicious code out with components that remove competing malicious code. Producing malware has become an industry."
Sometimes it's better to look a gift horse in the mouth...
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