eCard viruses have been around for years, but the latest versions are becoming very difficult for antivirus and antispam programs to detect. What's the trick? The new eCards are using all text emails to send their Trojan horses and viruses. While the emails themselves don't actually contain clickable links, many email clients recognize a Web address in the text and convert the text to an active URL. When a user clicks on the link they've triggered the virus.

As the holiday season approaches, the number of eCard attacks will most likely increase. Users who receive all text emails, once believed to be the safe way to avoid viruses, will have to be very careful to avoid clicking on any suspicious links. Meanwhile, antispam and antivirus software will need to be updated to detect for the new method of spreading viruses.

While companies are doing more than ever to authenticate users during sign in, the actual threat for identity theft occurs during a user's session, giving users a false sense of security. The two most common methods used by perpetrators are piggy back attacks or spoof server attacks.

Piggy back attacks occur when a users visits an infected Web page that downloads JavaScript to his or her computer. This JavaScript in turn sends the hacker the user's cookies located on his or her machine. The hacker can then uses these cookies to log into the user's bank account, financial institutions and other personal Web sites.

In a spoof server attack, the hacker lures the user into clicking on a link in an email or Web site by pretending to be a bank or another institution that the user trusts. When the user logs into this "spoofed" site, he or she is actually giving the hacker their login information.

Users need to take precautions before providing personal information to a site via the Web. Keeping up-to-date on new methods of attacks and ways to prevent them can help prevent credit card and identity theft.

The Boom in Online Advertising Continues
A recent study has shown that US Consumers are increasingly turning their attention away from traditional media, such as newspapers and network television, and shifting it towards the Internet and cable TV. As a result, the boom in online advertising is expected to continue, with predictions that over 54 billion will be spent in the year 2010 making online advertising the largest advertising category. Common online advertising outlets that are expected to grow include search engines, like Google and Yahoo, as well as digital channels offered by newspapers, publishers and TV broadcasters.

The study also showed that people generally spend less time with online media than traditional media, therefore advertisers will need to get even more targeted and creative with their ads in order to grab the attention of their customers. While consumers continue to rapidly shift gears towards online media, advertisers will also have to plan their budgets accordingly taking into consideration the changes that associated with this rapidly growing advertising channel.

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About San Diego Media, Inc.
San Diego Media, Inc. is a Southern California based company focused on developing eBusiness solutions for small to mid-sized companies seeking online growth, real ROI and competitive advantage from their digital resources. The company's business, marketing, and technology experts have managed Internet strategies and development efforts for over 125 prominent businesses since 1994, leveraging state-of-the-art eCommerce technology with a creative edge that pushes the envelope of traditional thinking. San Diego Media's proprietary MaxEXP® eBusiness platform leverages open standards, modular-based architecture to enable flexible, stable, secure and profitable results for its clients.

For more information about San Diego Media, Inc., please visit www.sandiegomedia.com.