eBay’s PayPal to Thwart Phishing Scams with New Device

PayPal is beta testing a new tool to help keep user accounts secure. The PayPal Security Key is a small electronic device that account-holders may order from PayPal. The device is small enough to attach to a keychain and (using VeriSign’s two-factor authentication system) generates a unique six-digit security code about every 30 seconds. Users enter that code when they log in to their PayPal or eBay account

with their regular user name and password. Because the numbers on the device change continually, the code used to sign in expires, providing a higher level of security.

To learn more about the PayPal Security Key, visit: https://www.paypal.com/eBay/securitykey
  

Popular online social network, MySpace.com, recently announced that it will begin sending online alerts to users in certain U.S. regions to help find missing children as part of an expansion of plans to expand safeguards for users. MySpace, which hosts more than 150 million personal pages, increased restrictions as part of an upgrade of safety features designed to address concerns of child safety advocates – some of whom say it has been slow to keep its many young members safe from adult predators.

The company struck a partnership with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children to enable MySpace AMBER Alerts, a program between the media and law enforcement to issue early warning broadcast bulletins in serious child abduction cases.
Additional information about this story can be found at:

http://www.missingkids.com/missingkids/
servlet/NewsEventServlet?LanguageCountry=en_
US&PageId=3044

A recent report by IronPort Systems reviews the trends and techniques used in 2006 and makes predictions for 2007. The report highlights the undeniable fact that 2006 is the year that spam came back. Spam volumes surged in 2006 – with the significant volume increase being driven by advanced image-based spam, which is typically 10 times larger than text spam. The report also details how virus writers have shifted from the mass-mailer tactics of previous years to stealthier attacks embedded in office documents and with highly polymorphic outbreaks. Malware writers found new ways to deliver a steadily

increasing array of harmful code, such as key loggers and system monitors. In addition, Internet Explorer vulnerabilities have allowed malware code to propagate
undetected by the end user. Malware authors developed effective spam and phishing techniques to drive traffic to infected sites, resulting in desktop infection rates of over 50 percent in corporations worldwide.

The complete Internet Security Trends Report is available
at: http://www.ironport.com/securitytrends/

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