We’ve seen it before. After the Christchurch earthquake earlier this year, email security scams and Facebook scams popped up which duped innocent web users into donating money to causes that didn’t exist, or into downloading malicious software to their computers. This also happened after the Japanese earthquake, when email spam related to the earthquake rose, increasing the likelihood of curious users computers becoming infected.

Employees accessing news from the workplace

Employees tend to use their work computers to browse the news throughout the day. But without effective web security and email security, these scams can slip through the cracks – an employee can believe they are accessing a genuine news story when in fact they are downloading malicious software to the company network or handing over sensitive data to the wrong group.

Unfortunately the words “morals” “ethics” and “respect” mean nothing to cyber criminals. Whatever it takes to make a quick buck, they will do. The death of UK soul singer Amy Winehouse on Saturday has provided new ammunition to cyber criminals seeking to take advantage of curious Internet users.

Facebook bogus videos download malicious software

web security

Facebook messages are doing the rounds with titles like “Amy Winehouse video on Crack hours before death”, “Leaked video of Amy Winehouse’s death – graphic content” and “SHOCKING! Amy Winehouse’s’ final moments!” These messages lead to data collection pages where the user hands over data before being directed to a bogus page. Email messages are also being sent out, claiming to link to or have an attachment of videos relating to the singer’s death. These all have serious implications for web security.

When it comes to a big global news story, the average Internet user has a ferocious appetite for information. MXSweep recommends that Internet users seek news from only the larger news websites, and never trust an email message or a Facebook wall post.

For employers, protecting the company network from this kind of scam is of utmost importance. It’s easy with a content filtering solution that can block out access to bogus websites and any other sites desired, like Facebook.

Click here to download a free trial of MXSweep web security.