Hackers 'target California wildfire news feeds'

2009-09-04

Concerned homeowners and businesses are being exposed to data breach attempts by hackers exploiting concern over the California wildfires.

In a post on the Sophos blog, security expert Graham Cluley said he had been alerted to a number of websites targeting users interested in following the latest wildfire developments in the sunshine state.

SophosLabs discovered a number of websites that went live between September 1st and 2nd.

Using search engine optimisation techniques, the hackers have been able to place the sites high in the search engine rankings, with users presented with a bogus security warning or a video clip download updates.

Mr Cluley added that the issue is exacerbated because it's often impossible to tell the difference between a genuine and malicious website at first glance.

Recent data from the Microsoft Malware Protection Center indicated that the US is the top target for IT intrusion and data breach attacks across the world, followed by China.

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