La Piazza Blog - PANDA SECURITY SUPPORT

Posted by Cristina Bermudez,  October 16, 2009

This is a relatively common question and the answer is:

Spam is the massive sending of UNSOLICITED email. 

Spam is not mail received due to a voluntary subscription to a distribution list (usually in exchange for relevant information), even if you consider it to be annoying, as long as you can easily unsubscribe with just a few clicks.

 Tips to avoid being saturated by large amounts of unwanted mail:

1. Be wary of messages received from unknown addresses. In general, any message from an unknown address could be spam. If it is unsolicited mail and you don’t know the sender, we advise you to delete it immediately.
2. Never open or respond to the spam message. If you open and respond to an unsolicited mail, you will be confirming the spammer your address is correct and in use, and you will probably receive more spam.
3. Only publish your address on trusted websites that guarantee the address will not be published and you will not receive unsolicited information. 
4. Install an antivirus - anti-spam filter on your PC, NOW! 
5. Do not take part in email forwards, as they are an important source of email addresses for spammers.
6. Incredible but true, you still draw your attention to messages like “The true origin of swine flu”, “Poor deformed child could be cured by forwarding this message”; there are numerous messages of this type and they are all false.

If, after following these tips, you still have a spam problem, we remind you we are in the  Tech Support Forum and on http://twitter.com/PandaTechSup

Critina Bermudez -  eKnowledge Department

Posted by Blanca Carton October 13, 2009

Twitter, Facebook and MySpace are highly popular social networks. Unfortunately, there are always hackers who try to exploit the success of these networks for financial gain. Such is the case of Twitter, which has become an easy target for hackers to distribute spam.

How can you protect against spam in Twitter?

• Disable the “followback auto” option. This way, you will be able to choose the people you want to follow.
• Do not access all the links you receive. Make sure you know who you are following. 
• Follow the spam profile in Twitter: http://twitter.com/spam. You can find good tips here. For example, according to a recent post,  “If you gave your login and password info to TwitViewer, we strongly suggest you change your password now. Thank you!”
• Install a complete security solution on the computer, preferably with an antivirus, firewall and phishing filter module.

If you follow these tips you will be protected against spam.

What type of spam could I have received?

The most common types are:

• Trending Subjects Spam: This spam searches for popular subjects (e.g. Michael Jackson’s new movie, store discounts, etc.) to publish similar tweets with malicious URLs.
• Tweet spam: This type of message comes from one user following another. Consequently, all the attached followers can see the tweet.
• Direct Message: This direct message comes from a follower. Therefore only the recipient can see it.

Don’t forget to follow us in Twitter @PandaTechSup and visit us at our New Tech Support Forum !!

Blanca Carton -  eknowledge Department

Posted by David San José September 22, 2009

On checking your mail you could find messages with enticing names of famous people, e.g. “Angelina Jolie porno Video Free”, “Barack Obamaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!”, “Brad Pitt naked video!!!”, “Michael Jackson free video!!!”, etc.

Sometimes the email subject begins with popular social network names; “Facebook….!!!”,  “Twitter…!!!”.

The common feature is that they use interesting subjects to temp users into opening them. From then on, the door is open to E-crime, which could install unauthorized programs on your computer.

Here is an example of the spam detected, related to Angelina Jolie:

Hackers are becoming increasingly crafty. For example, who wouldn’t open an email which allegedly contains flight tickets? or an invoice? Cyber-criminals try and get as close to victims’ daily lives as possible (at work or at home).   

Once open, these emails are designed as Trojans that steal information from your computer without you noticing.

To prevent these emails from accessing your mailbox you must install an antivirus and enable the automatic updates. This way, Panda Security protects you against identified E-crime.

This post has been written together with PandaLabs which has a mailbox you can send suspicious emails to (virus@pandasecurity.com) and will inform you whether it is spam or not.

David San José

Posted by Blanca Carton September 17, 2009

Although the Internet is a great source for job offers and other opportunities, it is also frequently exploited by hackers to defraud users quickly and anonymously.

A typical example of this comes in the form of junk mail –or spam- that will no doubt have reached your mailbox at some time. This junk mail offers many things:

• Easy money for taking part in a competition by dialing a premium-rate number.
• Information from your bank, promising a gift or asking for your login details (or credit card number and password).
• Job offers promising incredible salaries… asking you to dial a number or send your CV together with a certain amount of money (supposedly to cover administrative costs).
• Tax returns… claiming they need the user’s credit card number and password to complete the transaction.

Remember:

1. No company/bank would ever request your account number and password by email/phone. This data is confidential. 
2. Follow the safe online purchase/payment procedure we have outlined before Some Safe Online Shopping Tips.
3. Never be rushed into a decision. If you have any doubts, contact your consumer advice office.
4. Keep your antivirus up-to-date. This will help you prevent spam.

Tell us about your experience.

Blanca Carton

Posted by Alvaro, July 8, 2009

Who by now doesn´t know that Michael Jackson, the king of pop is dead? This post will not debate the circumstances surrounding this unfortunate event, but we would like to warn you about spammers who are sending new spam on the occasion of Jackson´s death.

As you all know, SPAM is defined as unsolicited mail, usually of commercial nature, sent in huge, even massive quantities with a detrimental effect on the person receiving these emails.

Malware creators are fast and exploit any event, as it is the death of the great pop icon, in order to modify the appearance of their spam mails.

In this particular campaign, different types of SPAM can be found. They all, apparently, contain privileged information regarding the death or even assassination of Michael Jackson.

The messages invite the recipient to view videos or pictures related to a possible plot to assassin the pop star, an appealling subject for many users.

During the tests performed on these messages, several rootkits and backdoors filtering users´ bank data have been detected.

We highly recommend to keep the anti-spam protection of your antivirus updated in order to protect yourself from these attacks.