McAfee - ‘Bargain’ Spam Rises in Recession

As per antivirus firm McAfee, e-mails offering discount coupons and cash savings have become famous techniques for hackers to target online users.

Micha Pekrul, Researcher at McAfee, informs that the company's Avert Lab has got reports of a latest malware attack which makes use of the discount coupons schemes to lure users in installing a piece of Trojan software, as reported by infomatics on February 24, 2008.

Pekrul further said that consumers searching for bargain should be careful as the hackers are trying to trap such people for making illegal money.

As per the received reports, these spams come in the form of a short message which carries a hyperlink claiming to offer coupons. On clicking the link, the user is directed to a page which provides several coupons in the form of an executable file.

Instead of getting any coupon, the user is attacked by a host of malware including a tool which adds the user's system to a botnet known as 'Waledac'. In addition, the page also has an iFrame tag which tries to execute a browser exploit to download more malware on unpatched systems.

McAfee researchers also warned that many fields of cyber crime would witness an increase in the number of their victims during 2009. After the theme of the Valentine, the malware creators behind the Waledac botnet modified their lure to offer discount coupons. It is expected that such kinds of coupons attacks will be multiplied in coming months.

In the mean time, security experts have said that this is not a new technique of attack. The use of news to install malware has become very common in recent months. With the economy is attempting to provide the biggest news items, news driven malware and phishing are evolving.

Further, hackers are using Geo-Location services to target their victims effectively. So when any user connects to the site, they predict the geographical location of the user and present the actual location in the site texts.

McAfee security experts suggest that for avoiding these spams, users should be extra vigilant with offers that appear too good to be true even in the recession period.

Related article: McAfee Alerts Windows about Accessibility Hole in Vista

» SPAMfighter News - 3/2/2009