Websense fights cyber crime post Boston Marathon blasts

The Websense ThreatSeeker Network is blocking email-borne campaigns to avoid unsuspecting recipients going to malicious websites post events at Boston Marathon.

Cyber criminals are busy while the world is still stunned at the explosions at Boston Marathon. These criminals are trying to fool those who search the Web for more information and want to help the victims of these blasts.

In its recent blog Websense notes that its Websense ThreatSeeker Network is designed to both detect and block the multiple email-borne campaigns and points out that breaking any one link in the chain can protect potential victims.

This dangerous campaign lures people through authentic looking news stories and then they are encouraged to click on a malicious link, which then takes them to an exploit page.

“We continue to see cyber criminals use tragic events to exploit people’s thirst for information and their eagerness to help those affected,” said Carl Leonard, senior manager, Websense Security Labs. “It’s important for businesses to recognise that without the right level of protection, their employees could be accessing emails or websites that could ultimately give the bad guys access to their corporate network.”

Theft of personal information

Once the people are directed to an exploit page they are lured to download malicious bots. In this case they are encouraged to download and install two bots called Win32/Kelihos and Troj/Zbot.

After these bots find home in the person’s machine, they proceed to join the system to the cyber criminals’ bot network. This can ultimately lead to the theft of valuable financial and personal information.

The Websense ThreatSeeker Network also stops the cyber criminals from sending unsolicited email from a person’s account and helps prevent participation in Distributed Denial of Service attacks.

Websense adds that it prevents data loss for its customers and is proactive in offering protection for these attacks in real-time.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families at this time. While these cyber abuses are minor by comparison, users can help protect themselves by sourcing the news directly from reputable news agencies,” said Leonard.