Fergie's Tech Blog

Rise in Ernesto-Related Domains Could be a Sign of Scams

Dan Kaplan writes on SC Magazine Online:

A spike in the number of registered Tropical Storm Ernesto-related domain names, as the system churns toward the Florida coast, has some information security experts thinking fraud could be on the way, too.

Johannes Ullrich of the SANS Internet Storm Center reported today on the group's website that 19 new domains containing the word Ernesto have been registered since the storm gained notoriety. Of those, 18 are related to the tropical storm, and 17 have been registered by one person.

While many of the sites are parked, experts fear the pages could be used for fraudulent practices, in the same way the Hurricane Katrina name was exploited on various websites following last year's devastating Gulf Coast storm.

posted by Fergie @ 8/29/2006 12:11:00 PM