Fake emails that claim to be from Facebook are being sent to users that read “Facebook Password Reset Confirmation, Customer Support,” encouraging them to click on an attachment to view their updated password.  What happens when you click on the attachment to retrieve your new password? It downloads a “password stealer” that will steal not only your Facebook password, but any other stored passwords you may have including email and banking passwords.

Hackers are utilizing Facebook because it is the most popular social networking website with about 400 million users.  The Facebook security page on the company website warns users of the spoofed email going around and reminds you that Facebook will never send a new password in an attachment. They suggest social networking users warn their friends about the scam.  The attachment in the email infects computers without any clear signs of what is happening so the user has no idea.  This spam is believed to have been sent using botnets  Cutwail and Rustock, which have the ability to control groups of computers to send out spam like this.  Tizer™ Rootkit Razor was just updated to be able to detect the latest rootkits Rustock and 4DW4R3 that have these hacker capabilities.  Download it free here to scan your computer.

You can expect that out of 400 million Facebook users, a good 10% will click on the attachment and be infected by this malicious virus.  That would mean 40 million computers infected, giving hackers such a large amount of personal information.

According to FBI reports last week, losses from online fraud rose from $264.6 million in 2008 to $559.7 million in 2009. Last year the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) received 336,655 complaints, a big 22.3% increase from the year before. The IC3 is a partnership between the FBI and National White Collar Crime Center.

The highest percentage of complaints, 16.6%, were email scams that falsely claimed to be from the FBI to gain personal information. The top five categories of reported offenses included non-delivered merchandise and/or payment at 19.9%, identity theft, 14.1%, credit card fraud, 10.4%, auction fraud, 10.3%, and computer fraud, 7.9%.

One popular scam was a phone pitch made by someone sounding like President Barack Obama, encouraging people to visit a website for government stimulus money. Those who visited and paid the $28 in fees after handing over their personal information did not get the promised stimulus check. Another commonly reported scam was fake pop-up ads for malicious anti-virus software. Victims receive ads warning them of threatening viruses on their computer that end up downloading malicious code to their computer after clicking.

Over 86.7% of complaints reported to law enforcement showed a loss of $5,000 or less. The median dollar loss was $575. More than half of the complaints came from males, and 92% came from the United States.  Anyone who uses the internet can be a victim of cybercrime.  Tizer Secure™ offers internet security protection to help keep your personal information safe.

The full internet crime report can be found here.

Reports say hackers are using the story of the killer whale that killed Dawn Brancheau, a US SeaWorld trainer, to try to infect computers and steal people’s credit card information. Hackers have taken the opportunity to use our internet curiosity against us. They have created webpages that supposedly contain video footage of the tragedy showing the killer whale Tilikum. Searching for terms such as “killer whale video pictures” and “Dawn Brancheau video” will lead to malicious search results. After clicking on a link, website visitors get a fake antivirus alert. They are told there is a security problem on their computer, and are urged to download the antimalware program. The visitor is then prompted for their credit card details, and this alert is hard to remove and will often freeze up a computer.

It is horrible that hackers would try to profit from the death of an innocent woman. She definitely didn’t deserve this, but why are so many people drawn to see such horrible footage? Perhaps the malicious hackers thought they were targeting people who wanted to see a gruesome video and deserved something to happen to them. Be sure to go to established news sites if you want to get information on events.

The number of attacks on corporations is so large and their sophisitcation so great. Many organizations have trouble determining which threats post the grestest risk. New ways to conduct internet fraud are constantly unleashed.

A research study shows exactly what CEO’s perceptions of threats are.

• 82% reported their organization had suffered a breach
• 50% reported attacks occur on a daily or hourly basis
• 48% believe their organizations are rarely attacked
• 68% consider the CIO responsible for information security
• 24% of other C-level executives consider the CIO responsible for information security
• 64% of executives believe their organizations will be breached in the next 12 months

Internet security should be a top priority. Organized crime is on the rise, as we saw with the discovery of 75,000 corporate computers worldwide hacked by the Kneber BotNet. Social networks and applications being hosted as services online are opportunities for hackers to attack. Internet security is a global concern, as the number of websites tampered exceeded 42,000 in 2009. 50% of CEOs reporting attacks are occurring on a daily or hourly basis is something to be concerned about.

The newest, massive hacking network “Kneber BotNet” has breached more than 75,000 PCs around the world. Hackers gained access to private data at nearly 2,500 companies and government agencies. Criminals use a botnet to control an army of computers and usually distribute massive amounts of spam and malware.

With this particular botnet, analysts believe hackers aren’t interested in money, but they have built a secret underground network to rent out or sell stolen personal information to cybercrooks. This botnet is gathering logins for financial systems, social networking, and email and reporting it back to the criminal. Social networking sites can easily be used to spread malware, as Facebook and Yahoo accounts have been hacked the most. Investigations report 68,000 corporate logins were compromised. These criminals have also poisoned search results. If you search for “Kneber BotNet removal” you will likely get results that will contain fake anti-virus software.

Several large companies like Paramount Pictures have been attacked. It is becoming easier to become a cybercriminal as tools for creating these malicious infections are becoming available on the underground economy. Corporations should monitor outgoing traffic. Stay up to date on security software and you will be protected. The Tizer Secure™ behavioral scan will search for unusual botnet behavior. Download the free 14-day trial.

This week we have launched three new tools that are free for personal use. Over the years, computer usage has become part of everyday life and the amount of malicious threats has risen dramatically as users leave computer ports open while surfing the internet. These free tools are Tizer™ UnLocker, Tizer™ SysScan, and Tizer™ Rootkit Razor. All are compatible with Windows XP, Vista, and 7 (32-bit) and have been listed on all major free download websites.

Tizer™ UnLocker is a powerful tool that gives you control over locked files and folders that may be in use by an application. If you are faced with a situation where you want to use, delete, move, or rename a file and get an error message that you can’t, UnLocker is your solution. The advantage it has over similar products is that it allows the user to kill or unlock multiple processes, as well as delete, rename, and move files. It also does not require you to reboot your system after deleting a file like other freeware does. Click here for more details or to download this free useful tool. Tizer™ UnLocker has already been awarded 5/5 stars by soft82.com.

Tizer™ SysScan generates a report for you after it scans your system files, processes, DLLs, and registry. It shows you both legitimate software and unwanted malware and if you are not an expert you may save the log to ask for technical advice on a forum. You also have the option to send your log to the Tizer™ Secure support team for a free analysis. Tizer™ SysScan has a strong advantage over similar tools because it will display hidden processes, modules, drivers, and registry entries while others don’t. Click here for more details or to download.

Tizer™ Rootkit Razor will detect malicious rootkits on your computer through multiple methodologies. It will detect and remove them without damaging your system. Stop rootkits from altering files, changing processes, or stealing your personal information. Take advantage of our advanced rootkit detection technology and find out more details here. It is currently the only anti-rootkit application compatible with the most common Windows operating systems.

Internet usage is part of daily life, and usage continues to rise around the globe. There has been a lot of talk regarding whether an Internet Service Provider (ISP) should be responsible to prevent against the spread of internet viruses. Studies show that about 70% of subscribers assume it is the responsibility of the ISP to provide protection against malware. IT security experts believe an ISP should attempt to increase awareness among customers, but the ISPs are not interested in playing this role. Every computer linking to the internet today has potential to spread new viruses and attacks. Increased bandwidth availability also increases the speed of attacks. A study done by Websense found that as much as 13.7% of searches for trending news and buzz words led to malware. An ISP can see what is flowing through their network and look for virus patterns but customer downloads cannot be controlled. Certain fire-share applications can be blocked or monitored, but does an ISP really want to block these? Many users would not want to be monitored. ISPs find this a challenge, since a user can easily switch providers if security blocks are put in place.

At the very minimum, an ISP should help educate their users on protection from malware and look at offering proactive security to their customer base to make their network safer. If you do not have your computer protected and are looking for comprehensive protection from malware, download the free 14-day trial of Tizer Secure™ and you will be pleased.

Police in China shut down a hacker training operation that recruited thousands of members online to teach them cyber attack lessons and malicious software, stated the Associated Press. Officials think it was the largest training website for computer hackers. China seems to be the ongoing center for internet crime, after the amount of email accounts hacked last month.

Three people were suspected of running the hacker website, the Black Hawk Safety Net, which recruited more than 12,000 paying subscribers and collected more than $1 million in membership fees. The China Daily newspaper said users would pay about 200 yuan ($14-$29) for these malicious lessons. They also sold Trojan software, allowing others to access a computer remotely. Hackers seized control of online accounts for their own entertainment and hacked into bank accounts. Police took nine servers, five computers, a car, and shut down all sites involved. They also froze $250,000 in assets.

Authorities had investigated the website after a cyber attack back in 2007 and realized some of these suspects arrested were members of Black Hawk Safety Net. Reports from China state that hackers caused 7.6 billion yuan ($1 billion) in losses within the last year and tampered with more than 42,000 websites. Google is reviewing all operations in China.

Anyone who’s worked with X-Wire Technology knows that our team puts in a great deal of hard work and perseverance making sure our products and services meet the highest possible standards for our clients and customers.

But it’s always nice to be recognized for that dedication. That’s why we were ecstatic when the Better Business Bureau classified X-Wire Technology as a BBB Accredited business in September 2009.

Based on their independent review of our business practices over the last several years, we received the highest possible A+ rating, which means that we support the Better Business Bureau’s service to the public and meet or exceed the organization’s accreditation standards. X-Wire Technology also complies with the Better Business Bureau’s code of business practices.

The years our developers have spent turning Tizer Secure™ into a reliable, all-in-one computer security solution have finally paid off!

Loyal fans already know that we offer protection, privacy and performance to Windows PC users. But new Tizer Secure™ followers will now see that the software has earned the coveted Certified for Windows Vista software logo.

That means we’ve met explicit standards of reliability and quality. Through rigorous tests, Tizer Secure has proven that it delivers a superior experience with Windows Vista, and it takes full advantage of the new technologies available in Windows Vista.