Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global
network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have warned
internet users that spammers are putting the lives of innocent
people at risk, by peddling drugs online that are said to combat
bird flu.
Sophos's spamtraps are picking up an increasing number of junk
messages which claim to sell Tamiflu, the drug believed most
effective at protecting humans from the H5N1 strain of the bird flu
virus. The drug is in high demand because of fears that the virus
could become a pandemic, and spread further around the world after
deaths in Asia.
The spam emails urge recipients to protect themselves and their
families from the avian flu virus by purchasing Tamiflu from an
online website. The website linked to also supposedly sells Viagra,
and a number of other medications.
The spams encourage recipients to purchase
Tamiflu online.
"It may make a change from receiving junk email about Viagra,
but you should never ever buy drugs online, as you could be putting
your health in mortal danger. Spammers are not interested in
people's health, they're only interested in making fat profits,"
said Graham
Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Drugs like
Tamiflu should be prescribed by legitimate doctors, not quacks on
the internet. Buying medicine online from a website advertised by
spam email is like playing Russian Roulette."
Representatives of Roche, the Swiss pharmaceutical company which
produces Tamiflu, say they have received reports of internet sales
of drugs which purport to be Tamiflu but are in fact bogus. The
American Medical Association and British Medical Association are
campaigning to alert consumers about the risks of purchasing drugs
online.
"You can never be sure that the drugs you buy online are the
real thing," warned Cluley. "In your attempt to look after your
health, you could actually be putting it at even greater risk."
The spam directs people to an online
drugstore.
Earlier this year an international spam gang was hit by a
lawsuit forcing them
to shut down a network of websites peddling porn and bogus
prescription drugs.
Spammers use bird flu fears to pump-and-dump stocks
In a separate spam campaign intercepted by Sophos, junk email
messages have been discovered which aggressively talk up the stock
of a company which is said to have recently announced disinfectant
products effective against bird flu and SARS.
Spammers are promoting stocks associated with
bird flu and SARS to make a quick profit.
"Spammers are spreading realistic-looking short term 'investment
advice' in the hope of pumping a stock enough to offload their own
shares at a profit. The increasing quantity and sophistication of
pump-and-dump campaigns suggests that there is plenty of money to
be made," explained Cluley. "Of course, the companies which were
talked up, and their legitimate investors, are left to bear the
after-effects of the stock dump."
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend against the
threats of both spam and viruses.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.