Virus Purports to be a Reply to Car Sale Ad on Craigslist

Security researchers at Red Condor are cautioning e-mail users that a new kind of virus is circulating, which most antivirus software have failed to detect. They further warn that the virus comes via an e-mail, which apparently is a reply to an advertisement on the Craigslist website.

This e-mail that the Zero Minute Defense Network of Red Condor detected on August 12, 2009 displayed the caption, "Re: Car For Sale on craigslist," while its text suggested that as per a request for photographs of a car on sale on Craigslist, the recipient could now view the pictures in a given album from a Picasa collection. The e-mail thus provides a link to access the album but clicking on it loads the virus.

Dr. Tom Steding, Chief Executive Officer of Red Condor, state - merely 13 of 41 antivirus systems identified the virus when it was initially detected at Red Condor. Thus, it meant that if an e-mail recipient followed the link, he could become infected despite active antivirus software on his computer, the CEO warned, as reported by MXLogic on August 14, 2009.

Steding further said that as more and more methods were being employed to get malware loaded on corporate networks and individual computers, it became imperative for companies to have security mechanisms that would suitably and quickly respond to remove potential threats. According to him, it was not enough to use conventional signature-based anti-viruses as safeguards against modern cyber criminals, since harm was just a click away.

Clearly, spammers are demonstrating that it isn't impossible for them to do anything beyond limits because they are concentrating on those people who are without jobs and in search for employment.

In the meantime, spammers and scammers are increasingly targeting Craigslist. For instance, Nigeria scammers have been exploiting the website for presenting bogus properties on lease, convincing people into wiring money for the non-existent properties.

In recent news of similar kind, scam e-mails were targeting job-hunters that offered supposed employment from well-known companies like Starbucks and Pepsi, or pretended to be communications from reputed recruitment sites such as Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com.

Related article: Virus Infects Through USB Drives

» SPAMfighter News - 9/4/2009