Guest post by Shannon Suetos (learn more about Shannon at the end of this post)
The 2010 Olympics is underway and it started off with a tragedy. A men’s luger representing the country of Georgia died just hours before the opening ceremony during one of his training runs. After reports of his death leaked out to the press, there were many stories and videos floating around on the Internet. Cybercriminals saw this opportunity to spread their malware into one such video.
To get their video ranking high organically in the search engines, these hackers used Twitter and SEO tactics. These criminals were already planning on using the Olympics as a way to spread their malware, but when this tragedy happened, they jumped at the opportunity to really get their malware out to the masses.
Roger Thompson, the chief research officer at AVG technologies told SC Magazine that, “These guys organize a campaign and they treat it like a business.” It seems their SEO efforts started to wind down by Tuesday, but this can be an important lesson for business owners.
Keeping your employees aware of safe browsing tactics can keep your business computer systems safe and malware free. If your company uses an IP phone system, you should be aware that you could infect your VoIP lines as well because they transmit their packets of information over the Internet. Staying one step ahead of these cyber criminals can be tricky, but a must these days.
Twitter and other social networking sites have fallen victim to Trojans and malware previous to this attack, so it is wise to make sure your employees keep an eye out for these harmful links. When something like the Olympics takes place where a lot of media will be covering an event, stick to mainstream news sties to get your information. Thompson goes on to say in his interview, “The attackers follow current events pretty closely…as soon as a story emerges on the news wire, you can guarantee there will be social engineering attacks taking advantage of it.”
If you take proper precautions such as anti-virus and anti-malware software and stick to credible websites, you should be ok. Educating your staff on safe web tactics can also help when it comes to preserving your business computer systems. Sending an email when news breaks of a cyber attack could save your company from falling victim to a cyber attack.
About the Author
Shannon Suetos is a writer based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for Resource Nation, an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing decisions and a comparison service for everything from phone systems to debt management.
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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