STE WILLIAMS

Cybercrooks are preparing to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with a range of malware traps and hacking attempts both on social networks and the wider internet, net security firm BitDefender warns.

The first wave of these attacks comes in the form of the newly established websites offering supposed content such as “Bin Laden alive”, “in depth details about the terrorist attack”, “police investigation results” and “towers going down” to attract the curious. The sites are filed with links to scareware and phishing sites. Others have created fraudulent charity donation sites that serve only to line their greedy pockets at the expense of genuine gift-giving sites. In addition, fraudsters are running fake auctions and sales of items supposedly linked to the devastating attacks such as shards of metal from the twin tower or even “commemorative coins” supposedly minted from silver collected at the attack site.

More scam, perhaps involving malware, can be expected to follow over the coming days.

“Because of the advancement of hacking and spamming technology over the past decade, plus the significance of the anniversary and increased media coverage, Sept 11 this year may prove hectic on the malware front,” said Catalin Cosoi, head of the Online Threats Lab at Bitdefender.

BitDefender says many of the scams likely to be on show are similar to those seen during anniversaries of the London bombings of July 2005. Cybercrooks marked remembrances of the 7/7 attacks with fake donation requests, spamming of viruses disguised as supposed videos of the assaults and advanced fee fraud email scams. ®

Article source: http://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2011/09/08/9_11_anniversary_scams/