Cybercriminals 'able to create genuine-looking emails'

2010-02-25

Cybercriminals are now able to create scam emails that look genuine because their abilities are increasingly sophisticated, according to technical director for Panda Security Luis Corrons.

While companies are coming up with ways to protect computer systems, cybercriminals are reacting and creating "polymorphic infections", Mr Corrons noted.

These mean that every time they infect a user they change the file used to carry out the IT intrusion in order to avoid the anti-virus protection, he explained.

Talking about who can be affected by cybercrime, Mr Corrons commented: "Small and medium companies, mainly, are the ones that are most in danger, because they don't have huge security teams in place."

He pointed to a case involving a small company based in Bilbao, which had €400,000 (£350,000) stolen from its bank account.

Symantec's State of Enterprise Security 2010 found that three-quarters (75 per cent) of the 2,100 businesses surveyed had experienced cyber attacks in the last 12 months.

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