News roundup 5/15: Inside a click farm, Australian scam reports skyrocket, and more
Ransomware latest: Companies brace for more attacks
“WannaCry” is an apt name for the devastating ransomware attack that hit hundreds of thousands of organizations last week, including hospitals. Holding files hostage and demanding $300 in Bitcoin, the cybercriminals behind the ransomware took advantage of a security exploit originally discovered by the U.S. National Security Agency, which was leaked online.
Although no new attacks have been reported, cybersecurity experts are still cautioning companies and individuals to be on alert. And that means keeping up-to-date on security! At the basic level, Windows users running Windows XP, Windows 8, or Windows Server 2003 should definitely install this update addressing the WannaCry vulnerability – but seriously, everyone should just install security updates. Always.
Australians report record number of online scams
The number of online scams – particularly those using social media sites to target their victims – are skyrocketing, according to new reports. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said they received 200,000 scam reports in 2016 – 47% more than in 2015. A whopping $300 million was lost last year.
Romance scams (where a fraudster dupes a victim into falling in love and sending money) and “fake trader” scams (in which famous brands are advertised for deep discounts) were among the most common.
Chinese click farm captured on video
If you visited a social media page for a new product, and it only had a handful of likes, would you trust it? Probably not – and companies know it. That’s why the industry of fake likes and reviews is booming. And so are click farms – the businesses set up to provide social media validation for as little as $10.
Recently, video of a Chinese click farm made the rounds online, revealing a mind-boggling 10,000 mobile devices with a single purpose: liking new apps, to boost their popularity and get more downloads. Meanwhile, fake likes, pages, and reviews are the scourge of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, which regularly purge their platforms of phony profiles…only to have them pop up again later. It’s the ultimate game of whack-a-mole.
