Security news30 March 2006
Spammers take a novel approach to selling goods online Spam campaign includes text from classic Russian novel
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, have identified a new spam campaign that uses text from a classic Russian novel in an attempt to evade anti-spam software.
The unsolicited email messages contain sections of Mikhail Bulgakov's book "The Master and Margarita", considered to be one of the greatest Russian novels of the 20th Century, but has embedded graphics promoting websites which sell goods to enhance sexual performance.
The spam messages quote sections of a Russian novel.
Today's spammers include news stories, jokes and even text from novels in an attempt to fool anti-spam software into thinking the email is legitimate. In the case of this campaign, the spammers are not even including a clickable link to the spammers' website, but rather asking prospective purchasers to type it in by hand, in order to evade detection by less sophisticated email filters.
"Whether or not Mikhail Bulgakov anticipated the level of success that his novel would eventually meet with is uncertain, but its a safe bet that he didn't anticipate it being used to flog sexual enhancement drugs," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "People are bored to the back teeth with junk email, and should ensure the goods peddled by the spammers do not become bestsellers by never purchasing items marketed in this way."
Other versions of the spam message contain other graphics offering enhanced sexual performance.
For more information about the latest trends in spam and viruses, read the Sophos Security Threat Management Report 2005. Amongst other topics, the report identifies which countries around the world have been responsible for relaying the most spam during 2005, and that pornographic spam and messages attempting "pump-and-dump" stock scams have surged.
Download "Sophos Security Threat Management Report 2005" 
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Sophos enables enterprises all over the world to secure and control their IT infrastructure. Sophos's network access control, endpoint, web and email solutions simplify security to provide integrated defenses against malware, spyware, intrusions, unwanted applications, spam, policy abuse, data leakage and compliance drift. With over 20 years of experience, Sophos protects over 100 million users in nearly 150 countries with its reliably engineered security solutions and services. Recognized for its high level of customer satisfaction and powerful yet easy-to-use solutions, Sophos has received many industry awards, as well as positive reviews and certifications.
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