India among the top three countries in sending spam messages

TrendLabs
researchers reported that the top 10 spam-sending countries comprised
85.67 percent of the total number of spam messages circulated. India
comprises of 12.55 percent of the messages circulated worldwide and
is at no. 2 nation after the United States of America in the Top 10
List of researchers. Recognizing that attacks are now carried out
using three primary vectors-e-mail, Web, and file-researchers
have drawn on some of the highlights from past month.

HSBC has become
the top phishing target this month via e-mail. It leaped from the
bottom of the list to the top spot this July, while PayPal remained
part of the top three phishing targets. New entrant in the top 10
list is ABN Amro Bank.

The United States,
Brazil, and India retained their positions as the top three
spam-sending countries, a trend consistent with the previous two
months. Both the United States and Brazil posted an increase in their
spam numbers during the said months. India, meanwhile, posted a
decline.

"User account
information and credit card credentials reap good profits for
cybercriminals. As such, cybercriminals continued to leverage on the
widespread use of social networking sites, search engines, and
redirectors this July. In the report, we detailed certain attacks and
notable data points related to compromised sites,” commented Amit
Nath, Country Manager-India and SAARC, Trend Micro.

With malware
threats persistently posing danger to users, TrendLabs consistently
monitors the threat landscape. This month, ATM malware, botnets, and
online gaming-related threats were particularly noteworthy. The
notorious KOOBFACE botnet also launched another notable attack this
July using the old technique of sending out direct messages (DMs) via
Facebook. Two notable ZeuS/ZBOT malware were found this July-one
targeting Russian banks and/or Yandex services, the other was
TSPY_ZBOT.CQJ, which steals information by inserting malicious code
into legitimate banking websites. The malicious code works when the
said sites are viewed using Internet Explorer or Firefox. The report
also notes that the continued proliferation of online gaming threats
has made the gaming sector a consistent cybercriminal target. This is
particularly true in China, where online gaming is very popular and
where cybercriminals have created XWM, the popular Chinese Trojan
kit.