Messaging News - June 2008 - (Page 8)

S H O R T TAKES U.S. Executives Harpooned U.S. executives at CitiBank, Time Warner-owned America OnLine and eBay, among others have recently been the targets of phony subpoenas delivered via email. Thousands of executives received the bogus emails that contain links which, if clicked on, installed software letting hackers take control of computers and swipe passwords or other sensitive data. The emails, crafted with the seal of the U.S. federal court in San Diego, California, were addressed to executives using their names, addresses and other individual details. These attacks are referred to as whaling because they use social-engineering trickery involved in phishing, but target specific individuals. Unfortunately, this whaling expedition appears to have been very successful prior to being identified. Gone Phishing Apple now joins the list of corporations to be targeted by increasingly sophisticated phishing scams. Would be victims received a spam email directing them to a spoofed iTunes billing page, where recipients were asked to provide their credit card number and security code, mother’s maiden name and Social Security number. “This is the first time we’ve seen iTunes targeted by a phishing scam of this kind,” says Andrew Lockhart, VP of Product Marketing for Proofpoint, Inc. “In this case, the bad guys didn’t do a very good job because it’s clearly not an Apple URL. Unfortunately, even that’s not enough to alert some members of the general public.” (www.proofpoint.com) Data Center Pollution The IT industry is well on its way to becoming one of the world’s biggest polluters. According to a study by McKinsey & Co., the world’s data centers are projected to surpass the airline industry as a greenhouse gas polluter by 2020. The average data center consumes energy equivalent to 25,000 households annually. Source: Fortiva Campuses Focus on Text Messaging The editors of Campus Safety magazine recently conducted a survey on how the April 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy affected campuses around the nation. One outcome is the heightened awareness of campus vulnerabilities related to safety and security. The survey reveals that 73 percent of survey respondents recently bought, or soon will buy, mass notification systems, highlighted by “instant email and text-messaging” capabilities. Although most campus officials acknowledge they need multiple modes of notification, text-messaging systems seem to be receiving the greatest share of attention. The survey also noted that K-12 mass notification via email and texting directed to parents is also a hot topic. Britain May Store All Emails and Calls Britain is considering a massive government database to store the emails, Internet information, phone-calls and text messages of all residents to help security forces fight against crime and terrorism. At the moment, telecom companies in compliance with a EU anti-terrorism directive keep records of phone-calls and text messages up to 12 months. But a new Home Office (Interior Ministry) proposal would see Internet service providers (ISPs) and telecom companies handing over records containing billions of emails, as well as Internet usage and voice-overInternet calls. The draft bill is expected to be released later in the year, but the plan has yet to be discussed by ministers. 8 MESSAGING NEWS JUNE 2008 http://www.proofpoint.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Messaging News - June 2008

Messaging News - June 2008 Editor’s Note Short Takes Classification & Retention Spam: Bigger, Faster, and More Dangerous Bad Behavior and Today’s Reputation Analysis The Changing Locus of Collaboration Serving Up Managed and Hosted Messaging Solutions “On Message” with Ben Gross SCAP Standard Benefits Both Government and Commercial Space Making the Case Learn More

Messaging News - June 2008

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