Valentine’s Day Spam Still Continues

Security experts at Sophos have cautioned that Valentine's Day which was celebrated in February is still being used by attackers to initiate spam campaigns. It is an established fact that any major event is made remarkable by the presence of fresh spam campaigns related to the event.

E-mails use several kinds of romantic messages and subject lines to lure innocent users into opening the attached file. Some of them are- Always... thinking of you, I long... to be near you., When I am with you, ... I never want to leave, etc.

Sophos also stated that the content of the message is almost always identical to its subject line. Moreover, the attack does not finish with an irritating message. Targeted users are urged to open an attached open.zip file. This file seems to carry malware detected as Mal/FakeAV-DH and Mal/BredoZp-B by the firm.

Sophos experts said that hackers behind the spam campaign are changing the phrases by inserting pauses and dots for surpassing the basic filters deployed by some users, as per the news published by pc1news.com on April 21, 2010.

As a result, the firm recommends users to be careful of uninvited mails, even though they seem to be coming from authentic sources. Clicking attachments or links in such e-mails always result in malware. Thus, one should avoid clicking on the attached files.

The experts further suggested users to ensure the protection of their PCs. Users should use authentic and updated anti-virus software and anti-spam filters so that spam e-mails or malware could not enter their system.

According to the firm, earlier also, love messages have proven successful as a disguised method for hackers to spread their attacks through e-mail. Unbelievably, around ten years ago, the notorious "ILOVEYOU" worm (also called the Love Bug), which seemed to be a love letter, hit the e-mail systems across the world.

Related article: Valentine’s Day-related E-mails Increased Spam Volumes During February 2012, Reports Symantec

» SPAMfighter News - 5/3/2010