Japan Earthquake: Possible scams / malware

Published: 2011-03-11
Last Updated: 2011-03-11 22:48:32 UTC
by Guy Bruneau (Version: 2)
4 comment(s)

There will probably be some emails scams and malware circulating regarding the recent Japanese earthquake that occurred overnight. If you receive such emails, could you provide samples using our contact form?

Be aware off

Fraudulent Organizations: If possible, donate to organizations you know and trust, not to new organizations just set up for this particular event. The IRS maintains a list of tax exempt charitable organizations [1]. This list is not 100% up to date, and it takes a while for a new organization to be added. But it can serve as a first sanity check.

Malware: Malware may be advertised as a video report of the event or come under other pretenses.

Update 1: Reports are already showing Fake AV exploiting the Japanese earthquake. Some of the sites to watch for are listed here. Other reports have been added as comments.

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Guy Bruneau IPSS Inc. gbruneau at isc dot sans dot edu

Keywords: Earthquake Japan
4 comment(s)

Comments

The IRS online charities search can be found here: http://www.irs.gov/app/pub-78/
See: http://blog.trendmicro.com/most-recent-earthquake-in-japan-searches-lead-to-fakea/
http://www.securityweek.com/massive-influx-scams-surrounding-japans-earthquake-and-tsunami-expected
SEO poisoning: http://www.f-secure.com/weblog/archives/00002119.html
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