Starts with a spam :

A) You receive an email from an unknown address with an enticing subject line,
like 'Pakistan missiles attack India' or ‘Britney new Video’ etc , with an
attachment that supposedly includes a news story. You open the file. Instead of
a news story, a piece of malicious software gets secretly installed itself on
your computer.

B) Another category of mails can be those that may tell you that your account is
about to get closed, or ironically warn you that someone appears to have stolen
your identity, or even say that someone has opened a fraudulent account using
your name.

And to get immediate redressal, you are supposed to click on the link attached /
pasted in the mail and provide some basic account information to verify your
identity and then give further details to get everything cleared up. And
remember, these messages can follow any route: email, instant messaging, SMS or
social networking sites (the latest platform).The emails may actually look like
a genuine message from your bank, financial institution or a popular online
portal.

Passwords get logged :

The software absorbs the PC into a botnet, a network of infected computers doing
the bidding of a cyber criminal, begins sending spam; you don't notice, other
than thinking that PC is slowing. But that is only the smallest part of the
game. The software also logs your keystrokes without your knowledge. This means
they save your passwords and other personal information.

Swoops on your bank :

So, next time when you visit your bank's website and type your username and
password, the software sends them to cyber criminals. The criminal uses this
stolen account, username and password to log into your online banking account
and makes merry.

Also, always check the URL of your bank's website. Fraudsters can lure you to
enter your user ID and password at a fake website that resembles your bank. If
you see anything other than the bank's genuine URL, it has to be fake. Remember
genuine websites use encryption technologies. Any website using encryption will
have httpsinstead of http.

So, never select the option on browser that stores or retains username and
password. As it can easily be cracked by cyber criminals. Also, never paste your
password, always type it in. This little amount of `finger exercise' will go a
long way in safety.

How money is transferred :

Money is transferred from your account to the account of 'assistants' who work
for companies that could be fronts from the criminals. The assistant, a so
called money mule, gets an email saying the money has been credited in his or
her bank account.

The mule withdraws the cash and wires the money and takes out his commission.
After this money is sent back to the 'employer'. The criminal, often on the
other side of the globe, picks up the cash. Remember, the `famous' Nigerian
scam.

Evil kits :

A small number of malicious "toolkits" -- bundles of exploits allow criminals to
customise their own scams and attacks. Crooks use phishing messages to try and
steal personal and financial information by tricking people into entering
private information into bogus websites that look like the sites of legitimate
brands such as banks or popular retailers. Such toolkits cost between $300 to
$800.

A widely available toolkit in 2007 -- called MPack developed by Russian hackers
is sold online for $1,000 and allows users to launch attacks in Web browsers
against people who surf on malicious or compromised sites.


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