Webmail Security Breaches Continue

It’s been a tough week for the large webmail providers such as GMail, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, AOL, Comcast, Earthlink, as they report up to 30,000 (and counting) email addresses and passwords were hi-jacked and posted online.

Although some of the accounts on the list appeared to be old, unused or incorrect, many have been confirmed as genuine. Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are continuing to advise users to change their passwords if they think their account has been compromised.

It should be noted that none of Synx3 webmail systems has been hacked or exploited. The majority of webmail systems are secure; they have been run successfully for years without major security breaches.

Most security experts suspect the account details were collated using phishing attacks. However, the scale of the problem has led some to believe that key-logging malware could be to blame.

Unfortunately, the problem has become self-propagating and account breaches could increase exponentially. Online security company Websence has identified a sharp increase in the number of spam emails being sent from GMail, Hotmail, and Yahoo accounts. Hackers and cyber-criminals are using them to send further phishing emails to real address book contacts.

Is there a solution?
User education will obviously help but, for inexperienced clients, perhaps you could consider installing a standard POP3/IMAP email client on your PC such as Outlook, Thunderbird, or Entourage for the Mac. This will help in reducing your chances of exposing your password online and risking possible hacking or exploitation of your account.

We also encourage users to occasionaly check for and remove spyware, malware from their computer systems as these could be to blame. If you do not have an Anti-Spyware program we recommend you download the free version of http://www.superantispyware.com

Furthermore, we encourage users to be extra cautious when clicking on links within an email, even if it's from a trusted contact as their email account may have been hi-jacked. A good rule to remember is, if the contents of an email looks strange, or you feel something doesn't look or feel right, you should probably flag the email as spam and immediately delete the email.

If you have any questions or concerns please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.

10/12/2009

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