IT security and control firm Sophos is warning internet users of
a new image spam campaign offering the services of an online
prostitute finder.
The emails, which contain the subject line 'How about finding a
girl in your town who is ready to help you take the pressure off?'
include an image containing a weblink, which must be typed in
manually by the recipient, as well as several sentences of
seemingly random text. Sophos experts note that both features are
often deployed by spammers in an attempt to bypass less
sophisticated anti-spam filters.
The emails contain an image which displays a
website address.
If recipients type the link into their web browser, it will take
them to an explicit website offering a search tool for finding
prostitutes based in their local area.
"Image spam is often used for promoting things designed to
improve your sex life - this latest campaign goes a step further
than the usual emails offering drugs and medication, all of which
presuppose that the recipient has a way of testing them," said
Graham Cluley,
senior technology consultant at Sophos. "While there's nothing
malicious about the emails or the website, the vast majority of
computer users will find this type of content totally inappropriate
and offensive, and must look to anti-spam solutions if they want
such filth eradicated from their inboxes."
Typing in the web address takes computer users
to a sexually explicit website which helps them locate
prostitutes.
Image spam, which uses a graphic embedded in an email rather
than regular text, has grown in popularity amongst spammers
attempting to communicate their marketing messages to internet
users. Often image spam is used for promoting stock pump-and dump
scams or drugs to help with weight loss and sexual performance.
"The quantity of image spam in circulation almost doubled in
2006 and is already proving to be one of the biggest spamming
trends of 2007 because it's so hard for those anti-spam filters
that just rely on analysis of textual spam content to detect it,"
added Cluley. "It's a sad sign of the times but perhaps not
surprising to see that the world's oldest profession is using 21st
century technology to advertise their services."
In a recent podcast, entitled "Picture this: Fighting image
spam", Mark Harris, Global Director of SophosLabs™, was interviewed about the
tactics spammers employ to evade spam filters and offers some
advice to organizations struggling to deal with the problem.
Sophos recommends companies protect their desktops, servers and
gateways with a consolidated solution to
thwart the threats of viruses, spyware, phishing, hackers and
spam.
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.