Businesses warned of Olympic Storm risk
Friday, June 20, 2008
Commercial organizations and consumers have been alerted to a new spam email threat which attempts to trick users into running malware by claiming that the Olympics have been cancelled.
US Cert has reported that the spam email has been circulated widely.
The group warns businesses to be on the lookout for the IT security threat, which can compromise systems by launching a trojan virus attack.
According to vnunet.com, the message invites users to click on a link which is purportedly anchored to a video but in fact directs them to an executable file entitled beijing.exe, which launches the virus.
The email security exploit is a variant of the Storm trojan, which first received its name in reference to severe weather conditions in Europe.
ZDNet recently reported that another version of the virus attempted to coax users into downloading the loveyou.exe file in an email expressing an erotic interest in the recipient.
Related News:
Gmail security concerns provoke moves toward strict measures - 1.18.2010
After an attack by Chinese cyber criminals penetrated the network security and email systems of U.S. corporations and Chinese human rights activists living abroad, Gmail was quick to announce that it would bolster its security by making HTTPS access the default method.
Security flaw in IE used to target U.S. firms in cyber attack - 1.15.2010
Microsoft announced yesterday that the cyber criminals who launched a large-scale assault on network security at multiple American firms did so via a vulnerability in the company's Internet Explorer browser software.
Cyber attacks prompt probable Google withdrawal from China - 1.14.2010
An attempt to crack the email security protecting the accounts of several human rights activists in China and elsewhere has caused search giant Google to end its cooperative relationship with the Chinese government, and, experts say, probably cease operations in China altogether.
Spam sticks around because it works: Report - 12.29.2009
Although anti-spam utilities have grown more sophisticated and email users have grown more savvy, email spam shows no signs of slowing down, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
FBI: Law firms and PR agencies high on hacker target lists - 11.18.2009
Using complex email scams, cyber criminals are increasingly targeting sensitive information held by law firms and public relations companies, according to an FBI advisory released earlier this month.
|
