Security news13 February 2007
Roses are red, Viagra spam is blue... Spammers continue to ramp up for Valentine's Day
Experts at SophosLabs™, Sophos's global network of virus, spyware and spam analysis centers, are continuing to see more Valentine-related spam as the traditional romantic celebration of 14 February approaches.
One of the latest spam campaigns seen by Sophos urges internet users to purchase drugs to improve their sexual performance to ensure a successful evening of romance.
"A Sophos poll* has revealed that 1 in 20 people are prepared to admit they have been seduced into purchasing goods sold via spam, but the true number is likely to present a worse picture," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Nobody loves spam, but so long as some computer users keep buying little blue pills over the net the longer the spam problem will be filling everybody's inbox."
Spammers are trying to sell Viagra in the run-up to Valentine's Day.
"Some may titter at the spammers' antics, but unwanted email is a serious problem. It gets in the way of legitimate communications and clogs up companies' email gateways," continued Cluley. "Furthermore, anyone in need to medical assistance should go to a proper doctor rather than buying from internet quacks."
In January Sophos published its annual Security Threat Report, which detailed the latest trends in spam and the techniques used by spammers to commit identity theft and swindle money out of internet users.
Sophos recommends that companies protect themselves with a consolidated IT security solution to protect against the threats of spam, spyware and malware.
* Source: Sophos online poll, 542 respondents, February 2007.
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About Sophos
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.
