'Celebrity Gang' Intensifying its Spam Malware Network

A bunch of spammers, who like to use the names of celebrities in its junk mail, is now manipulating a network regarding bargained computers, sizeable enough to contend the enormous botnet 'Storm Worm'.

A New Zealand-based expert in Internet security, Marshal, said that the group is held responsible for over 20% of the entire spam under circulation. Experts predict the range of 'Storm worm' botnet infected computers between one million and two million.

VP of Products for Marshal, Bradley Anstis, said that the Celebrity Spam Gang was being monitored by them at present, but the extent of their reach through their botnet was still unknown, IT news reported on November 29, 2007.

The Celebrity Gang, that uses the subject lines related to bare celebrities such as Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie, has been constructing its botnet from August 2006. The gang further uses subject lines like Updates of Windows Security and guarantee of free of charge games.

Antis notified that the gang is controlling a substantial botnet which generates considerable spam volumes, adequate to place them with the present rulers of spam, the Storm Gang.

Anstis further added that they consider Celebrity Gang as imitators as they have copied the approach of Storm Gangs malware spamming with the intention to intensify their botnet and consecutively get the capability to produce a larger number of spam mails.

The Celebrity Spam Gang tends to use ordinary but deep-rooted methods of societal engineering to deceive the e-mail recipients who get themselves infected through the botware. They are imitating the Storm Gang although applying less complicated methods.

Moreover, Anstis is amazed at the fact that Internet users still continue to get trapped in the deceitful tricks for opening potentially hazardous e-mails while suggesting PC users not to open the executable files connected to the messages and avoid opening any mail with subject lines referring to nude celebrities.

The rising number of computer users still falling into the dodgy tricks of the spammers, for instance, the 'nude Britney Spears game' was a cause of immense concern. The Storm Gang has been more prevalent with its creative approach and continuous deep exploring from greeting cards to headlines. This indicates a strong need for improved education and attentiveness, Anstis concluded.

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

» SPAMfighter News - 12/10/2007