Spam Evolves to Disguise as News Reports

According to a well-known Journalist school, Poynter Institute for Media Studies, spam e-mails continue to develop, as anti-spam solutions keep on improving and people become more familiar with technology. In the latest run of spam, e-mails are masking the subject titles with supposedly genuine news, as reported by RedOrbit on July 29, 2008.

According to the Researchers at Poynter, titles such as "Your account is about to expire" or "Cheap Viagra online" might stop entering mailboxes, as most users know that these messages are spam. However, the title "Oil drops to $100 per barrel" is convincing many people into clicking the e-mail's link.

Similarly, some other sensational headlines in e-mails are "Dog digs grave for owner," "Will Smith found dead in bathtub" and "Negotiations between USA and Iran end in war."

Moreover, the attackers are exploiting users' want and need for news, although the delivery mode is same. The contents range from advertisements to porn links, or particularly tricky links to get people to download a computer virus or spyware.

Furthermore, according to Robert Ashworth, a Senior Solutions Architect at Peak UpTime, the telltale signs of spam continue to be concealed in the e-mails reporting news. These include an unfamiliar sender address, a request to forward the e-mail, and links pointing to unknown sites, as reported by TulsaWorld on July 29, 2008.

Therefore, researchers advised that if people receiving suspicious e-mails are still eager to know whether the headlines are true or not, they should visit the regular news Websites or myth-busting Websites like www.hoax-slayer.com or www.snopes.com. Still spam reporting news is the latest technique to spread an electronic malware, and researchers believe that it would keep evolving technically.

Moreover, according to the researchers, the recent spams possibly not affecting larger organizations as a majority of them use proper security measures. They increasingly deploy spam-blocking software and firewalls so that these e-mails can be blocked before they even reach users' inboxes. But individuals and small-sized firms, who lack basic safety measures, could be at risk of infection if they do not have a spam filter or a tool that removes malicious software.

Related article: Spam Scam Bags a Scottish Connection

» SPAMfighter News - 8/7/2008