The Internet Threat Landscape

PayPal Fraud with CAPTCHA

A CAPTCHA or Captcha is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. Very often it is used against bots to protect the website itself. And because of this, users tend to put their guard down against fraudulent websites if they see a Captcha challenge. A recent Paypal phish makes use of this social engineering technique to harvest user’s personal information.

Rea more: http://blog.trendmicro.com/paypal-fraud-with-captcha/

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Tvviter Typosquatting Phishing Site

If you are new to Twitter, or have not bookmarked it, be extra careful of the following typosquatting phishing site. Passing off two “v” as “w” and a missing “t” is the sneaky way this site tries to scam victims into an adult dating site. Not too long ago, we posted on a local site trying to scam as SPCA’s website. Hence Beware! Typosquatters abound…

Phishing disguised as Customer Feedback Form

Though this happened in the US, it is a lesson that we can draw upon and be wary of the available phishing techniques. This is one scam that might get away unnoticed by the victims as the page is cleverly designed and forwards the user to the legitimate website after mining the necessary information.

How do you reduce the risk of getting phished?

My calender just reminded me to e-file my income tax return again. Have you? 

A kind friend of mine just shared with me that we can opt-in for Supplementary Retirement Scheme (SRS), which offers attractive tax benefits. It is a voluntary scheme to encourage individuals to save for retirement, over and above their CPF savings. Contributions to SRS are eligible for tax relief. Investment returns will also be tax-free before withdrawal and only 50% of the withdrawals from SRS are taxable at retirement.

The following table shows the yearly maximum SRS contribution for a Singaporean/SPR and a foreigner.

	Singaporean/SPR	Foreigner
SRS Contribution rate	15%	35%
Maximum SRS contribution= SRS contribution rate X Absolute income base	(15% x $76,500) = $11,475	(35% x $76,500) = $26,775

Source: Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore

The current absolute income base is $76,500. This is based on 17 months of $4,500, which is the current CPF monthly salary ceiling.

This sounds like a great deal indeed especially if you have some spare cash in the bank. Anyway, click on the link above to find out more at the IRAS website. 

A gentle reminder from me. Just be wary of fake websites from the nasty phishers when you surf online or submit an online form!

Below is a sharing by Christopher Talampas on how phishers hack into legitimate websites, create spoof sites and steal confidential information. Find out more about the security policies and practices that help ensure attacks like this don’t happen!

e-Filing Income Tax Return - Are you protected against Internet Threats?

My internet savvy friends were sharing the benefits and convenience of e-filing the YA2009 Income Tax Return, and how it has made life easier. I had no choice but to be the party spoiler by sharing with them the possible internet threats that await them. Once again, I re-establish the fact that most internet users still do not understand and remain gullible towards internet threats. (if you cannot articulate the difference between an Anti-virus and Internet Security software, you should continue to read this post)

To clarify, I am not saying that going to the secured IRAS website to e-file your income tax return is dangerous and will expose you to malwares. What I would like to advise everyone to be wary of are the cyber criminals who leverage on the topic on e-filing tax return, create a fake bad websites and lure you into accessing them. Such tactic is commonly known as Phishing.

The article written by Verna Sagum below shows good examples of how Phishers trick victims into providing user information at spoofed web pages.

To ensure that you do not become a victim of phishing, there are free tools that will help to access links to ensure that they are not bad websites in disguise. 

Find out more...