Do you know what site you're on when you put in that username and password? Are you sure?
If someone breaks into your home and steals your stuff, there are ways to cover expenses until you recover. Cash advance loans come to mind. However, if your sensitive log-ons for E-mail, social networking and banking are compromised, lasting damage can be the result.
Guess what? We now have the devious Kneber botnet!
According to PC World, the Kneber botnet has already dug its claws into over 74,000 computers running Windows worldwide – including but not limited to corporate and government networks – and that number
will surely increase because Kneber is so hard to detect. Specifically, Kneber botnet is a ZeuS Trojan botnet that knows exactly what kind of juicy information to steal from your computer. Throw in a little Waledac Trojan to sweeten the deal and you have a nasty problem. Merck & Co, Cardinal Health, Paramount Pictures, Juniper Networks Inc. and others have been compromised, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Studying the area of impact
The U.S., Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey have been hit the hardest by Kneber botnet so far, and the primary Windows OS version being hit is XP Pro, Service Pack 2. It has not been detected on a Windows 7 system as yet. If you frequent Facebook, Yahoo, hi5, metroflog, sonico or netlog, you should be concerned, but as reports have indicated, banking Web site data has also been targeted.
Beware the phishing lure
If you receive a suspicious E-mail with an attachment, don’t open it. If an E-mail or Facebook message is prompting you to visit a suspicious Web site, don’t fall for it. Either method could be used to upload malware to your system. The Kneber botnet can then do its work. The general rule users should follow is to be smart. Don’t enter your log-in credentials to just any Web site that asks for it. Be cautious, make sure your antivirus definitions are updated and ask a computer savvy friend or family member if you aren’t sure about whether a request for information is legitimate. Cash advance loans may replace stolen clothes, but they won’t make you feel and less cyber-violated.
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