Spamming Peaks while Exploiting the Ongoing Financial Crisis

MX Logic released its monthly security threat report in the first week of October 2008 in which it indicates a steep rise in e-mails having malware. This increase, according to MX Logic, seems to be getting support from the ongoing fiscal crisis that is providing fodder for cyber criminals to launch their scam operations.

The security company said that 5.14% of the entire e-mails in September 2008 contained malware in an amount that was seven times more than the average - representing the greatest leap since February 2007 when the Storm Worm first emerged.

However, organizations are becoming increasingly efficient in blocking undesirable e-mails. But that is inducing spammers to introduce more malicious programs in their campaigns in anticipation that they would be able to compromise more systems and expand their botnets.

As per the security experts, the existing financial condition of the US is partially responsible for the bad guys' spam campaigns. MX Logic's threat center reported that it is witnessing a rise in fake e-mails pretending to offer loans and debt consolidation.

The scammers apparently are attempting to manipulate the news to their advantage by asking end-users to revise their account details. In some instances, they are tricking users into going to malware-laden Websites, which resemble the legitimate sites.

Meanwhile, US-CERT has also warned that phishing e-mails exploiting the recent development of bank mergers are increasing. Historically, scammers or cyber criminals take advantage of latest news.

Moreover, as per the report, scammers are also spreading a Trojan through the current bogus iPhone game and are delivering a fake FedEx notification e-mail in an attempt to get the user to open a harmful .zip attachment. When the FedEx spam reached its peak, there were four such messages for every five spam mails, according to MXLogic's Threat Operations Center.

However, the report sates that the dominant antivirus vendors have associated the malware in the bogus iPhone games with the Srizbi botnet. Earlier, the Srizbi botnet was responsible for over 50% of the entire spam being distributed online, the report adds.

Related article: Spamming Keeps Taking On New Forms

» SPAMfighter News - 10/16/2008