9 Million E-card Spam Mails Pushed out in 48 Hours, Sophos

A large volume of 9 Million e-greeting card spam mails have been sent across the Internet during the 48 hours over August 14-15, 2007, according to an estimate by Sophos, a global leader in IT security and control. The figure has been calculated on the basis of the latest statistics on spam traffic that appeared in a New Yorker article dated August 6, 2007 and research by SophosLabs. DarkReading reported this on August 16, 2007.

According to the New Yorker article, around 171 Billion e-mails are distributed every day. According to SophosLabs' estimates, there are about 80% spam messages in the total e-mail delivered. That amounts to nearly 136 Billion spam mails clogging inboxes every day. During the aforementioned 48 hours, Sophos observed that 6.3% of all spam mails in its spam traps accounted for malicious e-card spam. That equals to 9 Million spam messages.

Given that 6% or more of total spam volume during August 14-15, 2007 were e-greeting cards scam, it shows the prevalence of such campaigns are similar to the previous Storm Trojan campaigns, said Ron O'Brien, senior security analyst at Sophos in a statement. DarkReading published it on August 16, 2007.

Over the last few weeks, Sophos has observed a revival of e-card spam campaign. Such scams employ social engineering tactics in which the spam mail suggests that a relative, friend or co-worker has designed an e-greeting card solely for the recipient. It says that it is possible to view the card by visiting the Website through the link given in the e-mail message. However, the scam is really not heartwarming, Sophos said. For on clicking the link, the computer would get infected, bringing it in contact with more threats.

Interestingly, the malware to which the link in the latest e-card spam points belongs to the same family of malicious code that the Storm Trojan spam scam used to wreak havoc in the wild in January 2007, said Sophos.

To caution users, O'Brien said that it is important to develop safe online habits, especially while opening attachments in e-mails, as malware creators are always writing new codes to avoid spam filters.

Related article: “Loopholes did not cause online banking thefts”: ICBC

» SPAMfighter News - 8/31/2007