Spamming, phishing and malware activity rises around the time of large sporting events like the Olympics or the Super Bowl, it has been claimed.

Symantec has warned household and business broadband users to be vigilant in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, which starts this month.

Many phishing attacks can hide behind what appears to be innocuous Olympic-themed messages.

Last month, a large amount of fraudulent spam was sent to broadband users that claimed to originate from the Beijing Olympic Committee, telling account holders they had won a prize.

Symantec consumer marketing director Con Mallom said: "Hackers and spammers will see it as a massive opportunity to compromise the unwary."

Broadband users are being urged to make sure they have the latest patches and security updates, and to check whether their PCs and terminals are configured securely.

According to Symantec's ThreatCon measure, the threat level is currently at level 2, or 'elevated'.



Monday, 4th August 2008

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