Web mail users at Yahoo and Hotmail have been hit with the same kind of targeted attacks that were disclosed earlier this week by Google, according to security software vendor Trend Micro.
Trend Micro described two similar attacks against Yahoo Mail and Windows Live Hotmail in a blog post, published Thursday. "It's an ongoing issue for more than just Gmail," said Nart Villeneuve, a senior threat researcher with Trend Micro. Villeneuve believes that Facebook accounts have also been used to spread similar attacks.
Google made headlines Wednesday after revealing that several hundred Gmail users -- including government officials, activists and journalists -- had been the victims of targeted spearphishing attacks.
Google mentioned phishing on Wednesday, but the criminals have been using other attacks too. In March, Google said that hackers were taking advantage of a flaw in Microsoft's Windows software to launch politically motivated hacks against activists.
Corporate networks have been under attack for years, but hackers now see personal Web mail accounts as a way to get information that can help them sneak into computers that would otherwise be locked down. "People always think of these attacks as isolated cases, but they're more like a series of successful and failed attacks over a longer period of time," Villeneuve said. "It's not a one-off attack."
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