For hundreds of thousands of eager job hunters out there, one of the quickest way to get their resumes out to perspective employers is using the online job site from Monster Worldwide (NASDAQ: MNST), Monster.com. It all seems easy enough; just post your resume and wait for the job offers to roll in. Well, it has been discovered that hackers have cracked into the site's database in order to garner personal information that could help them tailor targeted "phishing emails" to the site's users.
"Phishing" is a long running problem for unsuspecting internet users, where users get e-mails -- seemingly from respected companies -- that convince them to log into various sites and turn over personal information. The most lucrative phishing programs come to users from sites pretending to be bank institutions, or large internet sites such as eBay.com. These try to get the users to log onto the sites and update passwords, or something similar.
The problem is that the phishing emails actually send users to bogus sites that are able to log the users' passwords for their own personal use. They can then go into people's actual accounts, use it at will and potentially even wipe out their funds.
The monster.com attack seems to be a little less vicious, but that doesn't make it any less severe and important to discover. The hackers in this case are attempting to plant spyware and other malicious software on the users computers.
While these attacks usually get the best results from new internet users that are not aware of these sort of ploys, just about anyone can find themselves falling victim to these programs.
The lesson to be learned here is to be very careful with the information you hand out to websites, and always pay close attention to any emails you get asking you to go and change passwords or update personal information.
Michael Fowlkes has worked as a stock trader for seven years and spent the last two years working as an analyst for the online investment advisory service Investor's Observer.
New Facebook share structure hints at IPO
Before the bell: Futures higher ahead of housing, jobless data
Nuclear power is on the comeback trail
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-23-2007 @ 12:32PM
Stormie said...
This happened to me already. MIKE JONES from CANDYBESTOFFERPRO~tried getting me involved in a W.Africa Check cashing sceme. And it came from Monster.com.....I ended up getting 56 viruses from this clown~Totally shut down my computer. DON'T OPEN ANY EMAILS FROM PEOPLE YOU DO NOT KNOW AND IF IT SOUNDS TO GOOD TO BE TRUE~IT IS!!