zanzjan
04-05-2011, 03:50 AM
Since this is likely to affect a large number of people, thought I'd post something for those who don't spend the day surfing nerd news.
Last week a company named Epsilon that handles email communications for a number of large corporations was hacked and their database of email addresses was stolen. It is expected that those emails will be heavily targeted by phishing scams -- emails pretending to be from a legitimate corporation asking you to "confirm" information like account numbers, passwords, etc. -- and already many people are reporting a substantial increase in spam to those addresses.
Among the (over 2,500) clients of Epsilon are Citigroup, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, Best Buy, and Home Depot. If you receive email purporting to be from them (or indeed any company with which you do business) that's asking you to click a link to "verify your account" or otherwise email personal or account information to them, be suspicious. No legitimate, competent company will ever ask you to send passwords over email, but sometimes the emails will incorporate real logos and give innocuous-seeming links (like the recent spate of fake UPS emails) that either direct you to virus sites or provide you with a bogus version of the real company's website and then prompt you to log in or otherwise provide personal or financial information. Obviously none of those things are in your best interests to do.
If you receive such an email and are not sure if the email is legitimate or not, the best course is to go directly to the company's website by typing in the correct url in the navigation bar of your browser, NOT to click on any links provided in the email itself.
For more information about this data breach, please see:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/224192/epsilon_data_breach_expect_a_surge_in_spear_phishi ng_attacks.html
Some of the companies affected are sending out warning emails to their users; this is a good thing, but it probably won't take long for very similar but fake warning emails to start joining the mix.
-Suzanne, nerd-when-not-writing
Last week a company named Epsilon that handles email communications for a number of large corporations was hacked and their database of email addresses was stolen. It is expected that those emails will be heavily targeted by phishing scams -- emails pretending to be from a legitimate corporation asking you to "confirm" information like account numbers, passwords, etc. -- and already many people are reporting a substantial increase in spam to those addresses.
Among the (over 2,500) clients of Epsilon are Citigroup, Capital One, JP Morgan Chase, Best Buy, and Home Depot. If you receive email purporting to be from them (or indeed any company with which you do business) that's asking you to click a link to "verify your account" or otherwise email personal or account information to them, be suspicious. No legitimate, competent company will ever ask you to send passwords over email, but sometimes the emails will incorporate real logos and give innocuous-seeming links (like the recent spate of fake UPS emails) that either direct you to virus sites or provide you with a bogus version of the real company's website and then prompt you to log in or otherwise provide personal or financial information. Obviously none of those things are in your best interests to do.
If you receive such an email and are not sure if the email is legitimate or not, the best course is to go directly to the company's website by typing in the correct url in the navigation bar of your browser, NOT to click on any links provided in the email itself.
For more information about this data breach, please see:
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/224192/epsilon_data_breach_expect_a_surge_in_spear_phishi ng_attacks.html
Some of the companies affected are sending out warning emails to their users; this is a good thing, but it probably won't take long for very similar but fake warning emails to start joining the mix.
-Suzanne, nerd-when-not-writing