Researchers have found that at least 2,500 victims paid to hackers so that they would free them from the worm that had sized users’ PCs. A fast-spreading virus identified by Trend Micro as Worm_Rixobot.A has been spreading in recent weeks using infected porn websites, instant messaging applications and even infected USB drives.

As the Internet came to our life, it brought many benefits. Customers don’t have to queue for long minutes to pay for light, gas and water bills. What they have is an online payment using their credit cards over the internet. Some people even go shopping for groceries and other stuff using the internet. There is a downside to all this benefits of the internet. Hackers or thieves on the internet exist to take advantage of people’s property to make money and mischief. 

According to the recent researches with Christmas season at its peak hackers become more active as well. So, last year the shopping season between September and December cyber attacks increased several times.  One of the popular ways to get into users computers is social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace. The malefactors steal the details of Facebook profiles and sell them to cybercriminal gangs for just 89p each, reports ITProPortal.

PayPal, an online payment system, has been found sending fake e-mails, looking similar to its log-in page. Security experts state, fake e-mails are hard to recognize unless the recipients, PayPayl’s customers in this case, take a close look at them. The difference that those emails make is that they contain a .ZIP attachment in comparison to usual PayPal e-mail messages that would ask the recipients to go through a link included and enter personal information.

The IT security vendor community warned consumers and corporate web surfers today about the fact that internet criminals are likely to double their efforts during Christmas.  A five-point plan was released by to help users avoid scams, which includes ensuring protection of all the systems with the most recent patches.User should also be aware of e-cards which could have links to malicious