![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
SPIM, Phishing, and You!
Aug. 10th, 2006 09:50 amSo, there you are, on your IM client, and a friend sends you a link out of the blue, no hello or anything, just an innocuous link like this:
http:// www . geocities . com / input_on_new_pics_plz
Don't ever go to links that people send you out of the blue without some obvious tip-off: have you been talking already? Is it obviously going to a site in which you have a shared obscure interest?
No?
Then DON'T GO!
If you do, in this case, you get a nice looking page that asks for your Yahoo name and password, which will, if you have that gullible moment, then proceed to collect more usernames and passwords, and it will then have access to all your Yahoogroups--and Yahoo mail, if you use that, and so on.
If this happens to you, no software has been installed on your machine: this is all being done remotely. To lock the asshats back out change your Yahoo password and they will no longer have access. Count yourself lucky, as other spim-trojans do change passwords, as others have found to their peril.
This has been a Public Service Announcement; more details ( behind this cut. )This is a clever combination of social engineering (getting people to do what they're already inclined to) and phishing (using a faked legitimate-looking page to get real information)--clever because it's coming along an unexpected vector.
Unexpected...until you're bitten by one. I've known several who were (by this or another), two of whom have extensive experience in IT and therefore Should Have Known Better.
Don't let this happen to you!
-- Lorrie
http:// www . geocities . com / input_on_new_pics_plz
Don't ever go to links that people send you out of the blue without some obvious tip-off: have you been talking already? Is it obviously going to a site in which you have a shared obscure interest?
No?
Then DON'T GO!
If you do, in this case, you get a nice looking page that asks for your Yahoo name and password, which will, if you have that gullible moment, then proceed to collect more usernames and passwords, and it will then have access to all your Yahoogroups--and Yahoo mail, if you use that, and so on.
If this happens to you, no software has been installed on your machine: this is all being done remotely. To lock the asshats back out change your Yahoo password and they will no longer have access. Count yourself lucky, as other spim-trojans do change passwords, as others have found to their peril.
This has been a Public Service Announcement; more details ( behind this cut. )This is a clever combination of social engineering (getting people to do what they're already inclined to) and phishing (using a faked legitimate-looking page to get real information)--clever because it's coming along an unexpected vector.
Unexpected...until you're bitten by one. I've known several who were (by this or another), two of whom have extensive experience in IT and therefore Should Have Known Better.
Don't let this happen to you!
-- Lorrie
