Spam in Q3 2011: 20-Fold increase in fraudulent spam

Refined phishingIn Q3 2011, the percentage of fraudulent emails in spam traffic increased twenty times, rising from 0.1 per cent last quarter to 2 per cent of all spam traffic in Q3. The quantity of fraudulent messages is striking, but so is the variety of social engineering techniques deployed. On one level, attackers used tried-and-trusted tricks, sending email offers on behalf of online games to steal usernames and passwords, or fake notifications from major organisations which then link to a phishing resource. Multi-stage attacks on a new level are now becoming more common.

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