Security experts: 2008 should focus on online service security

According to a foreign news report, security experts warned users that in 2008 they should focus on protecting their online lifestyle. Care should be taken in all aspects of online services, not only on social networks and gaming websites, but also on payment, shopping and stock trading.

Diego d'Ambra, chief technology officer of SoftScan, said that social engineering is still the main way to entice people to infect computer viruses or leak password information. However, this method will become more advanced.

d'Ambra said that as criminals redouble their efforts to increase the proportion of responses and ultimately improve the effectiveness of the attack, we expect to see very targeted spam messages, written specifically for the recipient.

d'Ambra believes that most of the information used to create spam is collected from online services. Online services often contain personal and financial data that can be utilized.

Phishing attacks may improve in 2008. The link provided by the criminal will redirect the user to a website that contains a fake logo such as a padlock, giving the user a false sense of security.

SoftScan claims that websites containing large amounts of third-party content and links are the main targets of malware authors. The method of using advertisements to spread malware will further develop in 2008.

d'Ambra said that botnets will continue to play an important role in spam and other types of attacks. The success of the botnet will prompt others to develop this business.

SoftScan predicts that in 2008 there will be many tricks that have been used before. The Olympic Games, European Football Championships and the US presidential election will all be popular themes of malicious emails. In addition, spammers will continue to use obfuscation technology to use video clips to bypass spam filters and send spam to users.