The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has issued a warning to the American public about a new internet attack they are calling "Gameover."
Read their press release here.
Seems that the evildoers send you an email that looks to be from a very official looking site, informing you that's there has been a problem with a recent financial transaction. You're instructed to follow the link provided in the message for further details.
Wham. If you click on that link, you've allowed the malcious software ("malware") access to your hard drive, where it will spend its time locating and forwarding the user name and passwords for your financial accounts. Yes, like your checking account.
It's serious stuff -- they're taking lotsa bucks from people and it's called "gameover" because by the time that you know you've been hit, they're already finished with you and taking your hard-earned cash.
PC World has a nice article discussing how this latest threat is another version of the Zeus malware from a few years back. Along with it, a discussion of the past year's internet thievery highlights.
Here's the thing. Don't open those attachments connected to emails even if you know the person unless you are expecting them to be sending you a document. And even then, it's nice to have your security software in place to scan the attachment before it's downloaded. (Yahoo! Mail provides this via Norton, nice freebie.)