E-gold Not So Bright
E-gold Not So Bright
May 10, 2007: RSA Security’s latest online fraud report reveals fraudsters don’t accept VISA, they prefer ‘e-gold.’
RSA says their monitoring service has identified the preferred methods of payment of fraudsters collecting their cash for phishing attacks and other criminal, cyber activities. RSA has listed the technically legit e-currency method of ‘e-gold’ as being particularly popular within fraudster circles, with phrases such as ‘I accept e-gold’ commonly passed around.
The directors behind the e-gold service have recently been handed down an indictment charging the company with money laundering and operating an unlicensed money transmitter business, yet they’ve hit back at critics and Law, declaring themselves innocent of all charges.
Chairman and Founder of e-gold Dr Douglas Jackson, has released a statement denying the charges handed down by a Federal Grand Jury in the US, taking particular exception to allegations the company turns a blind eye to payments for child pornography.
“With regard to child pornography, the government knows full well that their allegations are false, yet they highlight these irresponsible and purposely damaging statement in order to demonize e-gold in the eyes of the public,” says Jackson.
However RSA has learnt from its monitoring services that most fraudseter have for some time been paying and getting paid through the e-gold, e-currency. While RSA acknowledges e-gold commenced work on a mass blocking campaign of dozens of accounts related to fraudulent activities last year, the security vendor believes these blocks have not had a long term effect on the volume of fraud still occurring.
RSA’s monitoring reports are the world of the RSA Anti-Fraud Command Center (AFCC,) described by RSA as a detection ‘war-room’ for monitoring and tracking online fraudulent attacks. The AFCC has already taken out more than 32,000 phishing attacks.
The good new for consumers, and potentially for e-gold, is that RSA believes fraudsters have realised e-gold is no longer a reliable ‘business platform.’ While some still prefer the e-gold method, many are looking for alternative platforms to maintain their activities.
However RSA have particularly noted an increased amount of discussion regarding the use of am alternative service called WebMoney. It’s a Russian based e-currency serve proving a fast and anonymous payment system, fitting the requirements of the underground Web. While it’s similar to e-gold, WebMoney has some notable differences, especially as it’s not entirely web-based.
In the breakdown of global banking brands attacked by Phishing, RSA found its April report to still reflect the dominating share of US brands affected. Meanwhile Australian banks made up 2 percent of the total share of banks affected.
While the US still dominates the list of countries actually hosting attacks, attacks coming out of the region have continued on a downwards spiral. The US hosted 74 percent of all attacks in February, a figure that dwindled to 46 percent in April. Attacks out of Hong Kong are on the rise while South Korea and China have joined the notorious top-five hosting country list.