Scammers use iPhone 4G offers to gather email addresses and other personal information
Sophos has intercepted email spam inviting recipients to sign-up to test, try and keep the much-predicted (but as yet unannounced) next version of the iPhone, which is being dubbed the "4G" by the media.
Separately, Sophos researchers have also uncovered a co-ordinated campaign on Twitter, using avatars of sexy young women, pumping out adverts to users promising a "free iPhone 4G" in an offer that is claimed to end today.
However, clicking on the links provided in either spam campaign takes users to a website which demands private information such as name, address, email contact details and date of birth.
"Even though it hasn't been officially announced by Apple, and may not be released for a couple of months, there is a lot of buzz on the internet about the iPhone 4G," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "In their excitement, some internet users might blindly hand over their personal information in the belief that they will get a preview version of what will be one of 2010's hottest gadgets. But being careless with your data risks exposing yourself to more spam in future and costly identity theft."
Sophos recommends that internet users adopt a healthy level of scepticism over "too-good-to-be-true" iPhone 4G offers.
"Apple is a company obsessed with secrecy about its upcoming products - you have to ask yourself, would Apple really be leaking products out to the general public for testing before they have officially announced its existence? Security is tight around the iPhone 4G - the editor of the Gizmodo blog evenhad his house raised after he claimed to have got his hands on a prototype," continued Cluley. "Sometimes people's common sense goes out the window when they're faced with the possibility of a sexy new gadget.. and that's bad news for personal security and privacy."
Latest Personal and Home security articles
Three and a half years prison sentence for rogue locksmith
The security message about encryption is finally getting through
HAL-Locate recovers stolen caravan
Google delivers twice the amount of malware than Twitter, Yahoo and Bing combined
Cloudmark's Cloudfilter protects Digiweb's customers from spam
Police crack down on burglaries in West Oxfordshire and South Buckinghamshire with SelectaDNA
...[view more articles on Personal and Home security]...
Other security resources for personal and residential security
Other security websites:
Bank and financial security - Corporate security - School and education security - Sport event and live venue security - Healthcare and hospital security - Hotel restaurant and casino security - Industrial and manufacturing security - Infrastructure and Utilities security - Home and personal security - Public sector security - Retail security - Small Business security - Transport security
