Malware Distributed by a New Series of Spam Attacks

Security experts of eScan, a security firm, have alerted Internet users to not to open spam e-mails or the attachments that come along with some particular subject lines. This is because these e-mails are believed to be harmful.

According to eScan, postcard.zip or, similarly named attachments are there in the spam e-mail with the subject line- "You have received A Hallmark E-Card!" There is a malware in the payload in the zip file. This malware can distribute e-mails in bulk to the e-mail addresses pulled out from the local system with the in-built SMTP client engine.

Also, the payload carries a malicious software with the attributes of Vundo Trojan that shows huge amount of uninvited pop-up ads.

Apart from this spam e-mail, yet another spam e-mail that is making rounds is exploiting the fame of social networking websites like "Hi5" and "Twitter" to circulate itself. These spam e-mails have subject lines like "Jessica would like to be your friend on Hi5!" and "Your friend invited you to twitter!" which in turn, carries a dangerous payload.

According to the security firm, it is a kind of the Buzus worm, which is believed to be a network- aware worm that tries to reproduce across the present networks. Buzus worm opens a backdoor on the targeted system and attempts to steal several data.

Further, eScan states that in addition to the above subject lines, "Shipping update for your Amazon.com order" and "Thank you from Google!" are some other subject lines that are supposedly hit with harmful payloads.

Expressing his opinion on the users' susceptibility to these spam e-mails, CEO and MD of eScan, Govind Rammurthy, said that it is still shocking that users open unfamiliar mails and clicks on links without considering its genuineness. These variants have proved to be more dangerous than the previous variants, according to a statement published by cxotoday.com on March 25, 2010.

As a result, to avoid falling prey to such disastrous scenarios, security experts recommend users to use genuine anti-virus software. Further, users are suggested to have the updated version of the security software on their computers.

Finally, users are suggested by the experts to have a technical know-how so as to spot the spam e-mails.

Related article: Malware Authors Turn More Insidious

» SPAMfighter News - 4/6/2010