Gmail Not Alone; Hackers Want Your Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail Accounts Too
After Google announced this week that it had not only uncovered but also prevented a cyberattack campaign against its email service, Gmail, Trend Micro, a internet security company, informed on Friday that hackers were also trying to illegally penetrate the accounts of Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail users in addition to accounts of other email platfoms as well.
The Wednesday attack on Gmail originated in Jinan, China according to Google experts and although the origins for the attacks on Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail still remain unknown, Trend Micro senior threat researcher Nart Villeneuve wrote in an online blog that “while the attacks appear to have been separately carried out, they have significant similarities” opening way for speculation.
"The attackers objective appears to be to monitor the user’s content and, possibly, to stage future attacks," Villeneuve added. Once the hacker precisely knows what programs(antiviruses) the user has installed in his system the hacker may precisely wage an attack with a even a higher probability for success.
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The senior analyst informed that the attacks were particularly deceitful in that the simple act of previewing the sinister email message rather than clicking on the link would compromise the user’s account.
In order to avoid the hack, he advised users to keep an eye on signs such as uncommon spelling and grammar mistakes that the email originartor would not make in order to weed out malicious email.
For more insight into these attacks, visit Trend Micro’s malware blog here.
