Security Researchers Identify 'nigerian Spam' E-mails

By Author: eccuni
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Recently, security researchers at Kaspersky Lab identified a new set of ‘Nigerian spam’ e-mails. The e-mails purportedly seek assistance from individuals for transferring money related to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or Libyan leader, Muammar Muhammad al-Gaddafi. Cybercriminals take advantage of mega events, and calamities to defraud Internet users. In this case, cybercriminals are trying to leverage the revolutions in Egypt and Libya to lure individuals into fraudulent schemes. The Egyptian and Libyan-themed ‘Nigerian’ spam e-mails seek name, primary contact number and bank account number of individuals. The e-mails are cleverly crafted and appear to come from the legal representatives, agents or sons of Mubarak or Gaddafi. The e-mails seek assistance from the individuals citing the prevailing situation in Egypt or Libya, risks of keeping money in their countries and pressure faced by the leaders. Individuals are promised attractive commissions in return for their assistance. While some spam e-mails, clearly mentioned the amount involved, others attempt to seek more details from individuals, before disclosing ...
... further details. One of the e-mails claims to be from Moussa Koussa, former Libyan foreign minister and seeks more information from individuals to disclose some highly confidential information. The minister had defected from the Libyan government, and is currently facing investigations in United Kingdom (U.K).

Unwary individuals, who divulge their personal and financial information, are defrauded. Lack of awareness and negligence make individuals fall prey to fraudulent schemes of cybercriminals. online degree and e-learning programs could help Internet users to understand various forms of cyber threats and best practices. Internet users must be wary of replying to unsolicited e-mails and e-mails from unknown sources. They must be wary of replying to e-mails, which involve transfer of huge amounts of money. They must not respond to e-mails, which involve lottery, prizes for schemes, in which they have not participated. They must avoid clicking on suspicious links or open attachments in e-mails from unknown sources as they may direct to a malicious site or contain malicious code and compromise their computer systems.

Attackers are increasingly making use of social engineering techniques to defraud users. Professionals qualified in masters of security science and IT security certifications must identify and alert users on cyber threats. Users must be advised on spam filters. E-mail service providers must work with Internet security firms to detect and filter spam messages.

Threats in the cyber space require proactive action. Online university degree courses on IT security may help professionals in keeping themselves abreast of latest threats, data protection mechanisms and bring improvement in cyber security practices.