Personalized Spam Assaults Could Result in Viral Infections

Security researchers have found that spammers, who distribute bulk of generically addressed unsolicited e-mails on Internet to infect people's computers, are now using viral variants to target particular individuals.

The observation becomes credible after the analysis of an example that included Chief Executive Officer 'Patrick Taylor' of Oversight Systems.

Taylor, according to reports, got an e-mail that spoofed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) during 2nd week of September 2009. The e-mail addressed him personally and made an accusation against an employee of his company saying that he under-reported the income of Oversight Systems. Thereafter, the e-mail directed Taylor for opening a given web-link to solve the inconsistency.

But as Oversight specializes in monitoring fraud, the e-mail made Taylor suspicious. Consequently, the CEO separated the e-mail from the rest of his inbound messages and requested Joe Stewart researcher at SecureWorks to examine it.

When Stewart analyzed the e-mail, he found that it carried a malicious payload that would plant the Zeus bank information-stealing Trojan, which together with another banking Trojan, Clampi, was frequently employed to pilfer cash balances through wire transfers from bank accounts of small businesses.

Taylor has taken Stewart's advice and is currently using a separate computer to carry out Internet banking transactions. This step seems to minimize the dangers associated with clicking on malicious web-links.

Stewart, in light of the existence of different banking trojans and their associated risks, said - it's fairly appreciable that companies, which conduct monetary dealings online, consider reserving workstations exclusively for such activities, as reported by Lastwatchdog on September 17, 2009.

As security researchers (like Stewart) analyzed dubious e-mail campaigns during the initial 15 days of last month (September) 2009, there have been many additional instances similar to the IRS case. These unsolicited e-mail campaigns infested with viruses included Serena Williams' flare-up at the US Open Finals, the Kanye West, or deceiving e-mail users with UPS or FedEx shipping notices.

Thus, to stay safe from such spam scams and viral infections, users are advised to deploy anti-spam and antivirus software. They are also advised to click on e-mail links that only come from authentic sources.

Related article: Personal Security Fears Weigh On Aussies, Kiwis

» SPAMfighter News - 10/8/2009