Category: Spam

PHISHING SCAM – CDC Sponsored State Vaccination Program for H1N1

CDC has received reports of fraudulent emails (phishing) referencing a CDC sponsored State Vaccination Program for H1N1. The messages request that users create a personal H1N1 (swine flu) Vaccination Profile on the CDC.gov web site. An example of the phishing email is below: Users that click on the embedded link in the email are at risk of having malicious code installed on their system. CDC reminds users to take the following steps to reduce the risk of being a victim of a phishing attack: Do not open or respond to unsolicited email messages. Do not click links

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Fake H1N1 (Swine Flu) alerts lead to malware

Malicious hackers are using fake alerts around H1N1 (Swine Flu) vaccines to trick end users into installing malware on Windows computers, according to warnings issued by computer security firms. The latest malware campaign begins with e-mail messages offering information regarding the H1N1 vaccination. The e-mail messages contain a link to a bogus Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site with prompts to create a user profile.  During this process, a malware file gets planted on the user’s machine. This US-CERT advisory contains some of the e-mail subject lines being used in the spam run. Some examples: “Governmental registration

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Facebook password-reset spam is Bredolab botnet attack

Virus hunters are raising the alarm for a large-scale spam attack that uses fake Facebook password-reset messages to trick PC users into downloading a dangerous piece of malware. The malicious executable is linked to the Bredolab botnet, which has been linked to massive spam runs and identity-theft related attacks. For the rest of the story click here

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Don’t dawdle on Microsoft latest batch of patches

If you’re like most folks you are taking your time installing Microsoft’s latest round of security patches. However, you may want to get your rear end in gear.Specifically apply MS08-001, which was released on Jan. 8. That patch fixed a Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) processing vulnerability that was critical for XP and Vista. The vulnerability if left unpatched could lead to a worm attack. Ryan Naraine interviews the hacker that brought the bug to Microsoft last August and the details are worrisome. read the rest of this article here 

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The next generation of security threats

REDMOND, Wash.–Microsoft security engineer Robert Hensing had a question for the hundreds of his company’s developers seated before him: can a person’s PC become infected with a rootkit simply by opening a PowerPoint file? In the packed conference center, a smattering of developers raise their hands. Nearby, in an adjacent room, where hackers invited to speak at Microsoft’s Blue Hat conference watch the presentations on TV, an entire table of hands go up. “That’s one thing I want you to take away from this,” Hensing tells the Microsoft developers. “Applications are dangerous.” “We’re attacking today’s problems. We

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Phishers are using shorter URLs for malicious sites in a bid to lend an air of legitimacy to threatening links.

Internet Security Services, IBM’s online-security division, claims to have noticed a significant drop in the number of characters used by fraudsters in their phishing URLs. A post on ISS’s Frequency X blog stated that “analysts have been observing host names within fraudulent phishing URLs consistently arrive with lengths of between 30 and 37 characters”; observers “have noted a significant change” as phishing host names have shrunk down to an average of only 17 characters in recent weeks. For more info click here

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Bogus FTC e-mail has virus

The Federal Trade Commission, which has declared war on Internet scams, warned consumers on Monday not to open a bogus e-mail that appears to come from its fraud department because it carries an attachment that can download a virus. The e-mail says it is from “frauddep@ftc.gov” and has the FTC’s government seal. But it was not issued by the agency and has attachments and links that will download a virus that could steal passwords and account numbers, the agency said. “It’s a treasure trove for identity theft,” said David Torok of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection.

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Adobe Acrobat, Reader vulnerable to hacks

Adobe Systems, whose software is used by millions of people to read documents sent over the Internet, said some of its programs contain a flaw that makes personal computers vulnerable to attack. In an October 5 posting on its Web site, Adobe said the “critical” flaw is incorporated into versions of Adobe Reader and Acrobat software, and could allow malicious programs to get on to a PC without the user knowing about it. For more info click here 

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Storm worm exploits YouTube

Spammers are exploiting YouTube’s “invite your friends” function to send spam containing a variant of the “Storm worm.” Bradley Anstis, director of product management at security firm Marshal, said that spammers are taking advantage of the YouTube function that lets people invite friends to view videos that they have viewed or posted. The function allows someone to e-mail any address from an account. The scam on Google’s video-sharing site is targeting Xbox owners, urging recipients to collect a prize version of the popular game Halo 3. Anstis said clicking on the link to “winhalo3” leads to a

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Americans wrong about computer security

Most Americans believe their computers are protected against viruses and spyware, but scans found that a large number had outdated or disabled security software, according to a poll released on Monday. Fully 87 percent of Americans polled said they had antivirus software, 73 percent said they had a firewall and 70 percent said they had antispyware software, according to the survey by security software maker McAfee and the National Cyber Security Alliance. But when pollsters asked to remotely scan the respondents’ computers, the story turned out to be very different. While 94 percent of those polled had

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Spam-scam crackdown nets $2 billion in fake checks

An international crackdown on Internet financial scams this year has yielded more than $2.1 billion in seized fake checks and 77 arrests in the Netherlands, Nigeria and Canada, U.S. and other authorities said on Wednesday. The scammers, often West African organized crime groups, use ploys such as “spam” e-mail offering to pay recipients “processing fees” for depositing checks, which later turn out to be phony, and sending the ostensible proceeds to the scammer, authorities said. For more info click here 

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Storm Worm botnet could be world’s most powerful supercomputer

Nearly nine months after it was first discovered, the Storm Worm Trojan continues to surge, building what experts believe could be the world’s most powerful supercomputer.The Trojan, which uses a myriad of social engineering lures to trick Windows users into downloading malware, has successfully seeded a massive botnet — between one million and 10 million CPUs — producing computing power to rival the world’s top 10 supercomputers For more info click here

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Spam that might just kill you

It’s not exactly hyperbole to say that some spam might just kill you. In 2006, a Vancouver woman died of heavy-metal poisoning after consuming common brand-name drugs purchased inexpensively online; in 2003, a 19-year-old Rutgers University student overdosed on Xanax purchased online without a prescription. These are two different scenarios, but both illustrate the dangers of unregulated, rogue pharmacies that are active online today. For more info click here 

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Can-Spam put to the test

The last six months have not been particularly kind to the antispam community. Late last year, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit limited the reach of both state and federal spam laws to e-mails that contain “material” falsity or deception. And last week, a federal district court dismissed a Can-Spam claim on the basis that the plaintiff, James Gordon–who was not a traditional ISP–did not suffer the type of injury envisioned by the law, and thus lacked legal standing to sue. For more info click here 

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The feds weigh in on Windows security

Will the White House make a difference in computer security? The President’s Office of Management and Budget recently sent out a directive to federal chief information officers to secure their Windows PCs. In what some said could have ripple effects well beyond Washington, the White House sent out a memorandum on March 22 that instructed all federal agencies (PDF) to adopt standard security configurations for Windows XP and Windows Vista by February 1. For more info click here 

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