Security news10 May 2007
Mothering Spamday - Spam hits inboxes in run-up to Mother's Day Consumers urged to boycott companies who sell goods via unwanted email
Sophos, a world leader in IT security and control, has reported a rise in the levels of "Mother's Day" spam in the run-up to festivities in North America this weekend, and has urged consumers to boycott companies who try and sell them goods via unwanted email.
Spams have been seen trying to sell flowers, chocolates, and even baskets of fruit to consumers who may have not yet purchased a present for their mother.
Spams are being sent promoting goods in the run-up to Mother's Day.
"The United States is celebrating Mother's Day on Sunday, and spammers have ramped up their operations to try and sell last minute goods to forgetful sons and daughters. Mothers may appreciate their children being reminded by a spam to do something special, but buying goods advertised in this way only encourages the spammers to send more junk email," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "If no-one purchased the products sold via spam then the spammers would disappear. It's time to boycott the companies who use spam to sell their goods. If you receive an unsolicited commercial email don't try, don't buy, don't reply."
Sophos experts note that there are at least 23 different dates used in countries around the world to celebrate Mother's Day, but spammers focus on the North American celebration because it provides them with the largest possible audience.
"If you live in the UK then you celebrated Mothering Sunday in March, and if you're in Russia then you have to wait until December! But you might still be bombarded with Mother's Day spam because of the celebrations being held in the United States and other countries this weekend," continued Cluley. "Spam is truly a global problem, and everybody has a part to play in helping reduce its impact on society. Next time spammers offer you 'something for the weekend', ask yourself whether your mom would approve."
Earlier this year, a Sophos survey revealed that five percent of computer users admit to having purchased goods sold via spam.
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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.
