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E-mail Spoofing Northwest Airlines Drops Trojan

According to a warning released by security experts at Sophos, a new malicious spam campaign is spreading a message that claims to provide information on non-existent transactions of credit cards.

The scam e-mails pretending to be communication from Northwest Airlines, a subsidiary of Delta Airlines US. The e-mail tells the recipient that his credit card account has been debited for availing the online ticket facility of the company.

However, the e-mail, which attaches a ZIP file named Your_Eticket.zip, does not carry an authentic e-ticket nor any charge made against the credit card of the user. Instead, the ZIP file contains a Trojan program known as Troj/Agent-IPS created to enable hackers secretly access the user's PC or steal information.

The e-mail says that $449.70 has been charged from the recipient's credit card. It further reveals that whenever the user orders for tickets on the airline's website, he would get a 10% discount. Moreover, the recipient needs to print out the ticket in color to use it for the journey, states the e-mail.

Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant, Sophos, said that hackers might be thinking that when users find they have been charged for a flight ticket they never ordered for, they would be so frustrated that they would not think again before opening the ZIP file, as reported by SecurityPark on January 16, 2009.

Cluley suggested that any time a person makes an air flight booking over the Internet, he/she must be very careful while checking his/her inbox for replies and correspondences as well as be vigilant of attachments. The consultant cautioned that users must think twice before clicking on attachment as they could put their computers on risk.

Thus, Sophos recommended that e-mail users must be watchful of the messages so that they do not become the victims of Trojan virus. The company also advises all PC users to be cautious while clicking on unsolicited e-mails as well as make sure they are properly protected from attacks like malware, spam and phishing.

Related article: E-Crime Reporting Format To Be Launched in July

» SPAMfighter News - 1/29/2009

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