Windows 7 hoopla brings spam and malware attacks
Friday, October 23, 2009
Cybercriminals hoping to profit from the hype over Microsoft's Windows 7 have targeted spam email campaigns offering special deals on the new operating system, but these deals are likely traps for distributing malware.
Security researchers at McAfee reported seeing a surge in Windows 7 related spam beginning in September, with subject lines such as "Microsoft Windows 7 special offers." These messages have reached as high as 1.88 percent of all spam, McAfee said.
"That might sound like a small number, but when you consider that daily spam volumes can reach 160 billion messages, it is not insignificant," McAfee's David Marcus said on the McAfee Labs Blog.
Microsoft is warning customers not to be fooled by offers of pirated versions of Microsoft software and products, which could contain malware that can take over a victim's PC and steal their personal data.
On the Microsoft Malware Protection Center blog, the company said it has seen spikes in a Trojan called Win32/Bifrose which comes included in a pirated version of Windows Vista called Vista Black Edition.
"So you see kids, illegal software is seldom free of all cost," Microsoft's Matt McCormack said in the post. "Chances are you're paying for it in ways you didn't consider."
Related News:
UK cops arrest two in Zbot Trojan case - 11.19.2009
The British Metropolitan Police took two suspected cyber criminals into custody earlier this month in connection with an investigation into the Zbot banking Trojan.
Facebook shakes up privacy policy in response to criticism - 11.19.2009
After a week-long comment period in which 7,000 Facebook users voiced their opinions, the giant social media network announced that it would overhaul and simplify its privacy policy.
Domain registrar VeriSign will receive "major security update" by 2011 - 11.19.2009
A well-known security vulnerability in the way .com and .net websites process DNS values - the way alphanumeric website names are translated into numeric web addresses - will be fixed, but not until 2011, according to a report from tech news website ZDNet.
Malware attack targeting fans of Twilight series - 11.18.2009
As with many recent hot news trends, the upcoming release of the second movie based on Stephenie Meyer's Twilight books has attracted the attention not just of the vampire wannabes, but of actual cyber criminals as well.
Giant black-hat SEO campaign funnels victims to scareware sites - 11.18.2009
Security researchers say that cyber criminals have conducted a large-scale campaign to influence Google results, pushing malware-spreading sites higher on the list and dropping legitimate results to the bottom.
|
