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| Move in response to 50% increase in global ransomware |
Android devices to warn users of potential attacks.
Following the events of the past week involving a high-speed worm
that traveled the net as a Google Doc, the company has a new
announcement for its users. Gmail for Android will now have a warning
feature that lets users know about the potential for a phishing attack
coming through as one of the messages.
Unfortunately, the new feature wouldn’t have prevented anyone from opening the Google Doc scam
last week, as that one traveled by rooting out victims’ contacts lists
and appearing to come from them. The recipients, believing one of their
contacts had just shared a document with them, were all too quick to
click on the button and invite the worm in.
Sheer volume of spa
Just because the new phishing warning wouldn’t have stopped this one
incident, that doesn’t mean it’s not a really useful tool given the
sheer volume of spammy emails that invade email inboxes every day, all
of which could potentially contain malicious content. The new feature is
built around Google’s existing safeguard that protects users from
websites that have harmful code; if users click on an emailed link – a
common method of forcing a virus download – that is suspected of being
malicious in some way, a popup warning will inform the user of the
suspected findings.
Old but successful
While new methods of cybercrime crop up practically every day, the
success rate of the “old school” methods like Word-based macros that
contain viruses and harmful links in emails and messages means they’re
not going away anytime soon. The recent Verizon data breach report
proves it: there was a 50% increase in global ransomware attacks last year over the previous year, and the most common method of installation is through phishing attacks.
Stay safe – download the latest antimalware software now –
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