[LINK] Fwd: Australian Taxation Office (ATO) refund

[James Collins]

> Here's a very nicely constructed scam.

Detected by the APN Mon, 8 Feb 2010 20:00:25 -0500. Format follows IRS
Phishing Spams. Compromised machine was used to send it from Lansing MI in
the good old US of A.

Last year, one unique phishing scam was launched every two minutes. 18% of
them coming from 3 distinctly targetable IP addresses. This year it's more
like 1 every minute. Phenomenal numbers which are only increasing with
recent faults in operating systems. Total compromised machines my system is
tracking is rising like a rocket. With my non-existent resources, I expect
it will rise beyond my capacity to track them in a short time.

Of course, the Australian Protected Network would fix it immediately. Block
the offending computers from damaging the computers on the APN, while still
allowing them to operate and get help. Change impending doom and disaster
into sunny skies. Not saying it would be as simple as flicking a switch, but
we could answer these things a darn sight faster than we can now, which is
largely not at all. 

OR we could block about 1000 to say, 10,000 URLs, and if someone has a
compromised computer IN AUSTRALIA ONLY, then we might consider just blocking
that computer from using the internet at all! Helpful... The Internet is
GLOBAL. Sheesh... drop in the ocean...

But credit where it's due, the AG department's new AusCert is remarkably
efficient at doing what they can.


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