CAIRO/DUBAI: "Be extra careful, is the advice Trend Micro Incorporated officials are stressing this year. The company, specializing in network antivirus and content security software and services, has warned internet users from blogs infected by "malware - malicious software. According to a press statement sent by the regional office of the company, "opportunists have taken the opportunity to hijack legitimate sites during the recent sequence of public holidays, guaranteeing control while regular maintenance teams are away. Samir Kirouani, senior technical engineer at Trend Micro Middle East and Africa, said "users should be extra careful when they fire up their computers in 2008. Cyber-criminals are enticing their victims by organizing the infection of seasonal or topical web pages at peak times. Timely content - from holiday recipes to current affairs stories - are being manipulated, the statement explained. In addition to attracting curious readers, these infected websites also use "SEO poisoning, a self-reproducing process, whereby the infected pages get more popular in search engine rankings. Consequently, the chances of opening such pages increase. Due to the continuous growth of internet users in the Middle East, the region is especially vulnerable to this type of attack, says Kirouani. "What is especially disturbing is that those infecting weblogs and other sites during the vacation appear to be playing a long game, he said. "The capture of numerous web pages, and the collation of information on their visitors, has not had an immediate impact, suggesting something sinister is being arranged for later in the year. In response, Trend Micro recommends users adopt a reliable network security package that can assess the reputation of individual websites.Photocaption: Samir Kirouani, Senior Technical Engineer, Trend Micro Middle East and Africa.
