Security news24 December 2007
Surfing the pump-and-dump wave in latest Sophos podcast Carole Theriault and Paul Baccas discuss the rise of pump-and-dump spam
Carole Theriault interviews Paul Baccas about stock pump-and-dump spam.
IT security and control firm Sophos, today announced the availability of a new Sophos podcast, 'Surfing the pump-and-dump-wave' where spam and virus researcher Paul Baccas explains what pump-and-dump, or financial stock spam, is and discusses how this type of spam has evolved.
Pump-and-dump stock spam campaigns are designed to manipulate the share price of a company - spammers purchase stock at a cheap price and then artificially inflate its price by encouraging others to purchase more (by spamming "good news" about the company to others). The spammers then sell off their stock at a profit.
"Pump-and-dump stock spam is another method of stock manipulation but the internet is a much faster route to potential investors, rather than talking up a stock in a crowded bar," said Yogita Parmar, producer of Sophos podcasts. "Spammers aren't just sending out plain text emails with the ticker symbol anymore, they're using more sophisticated techniques such as embedded images, attached PDF brochures and MP3 files to avoid detection. And, it's working - in August 2007, Sophos reported a 30 percent rise in the total level of spam due to one massive PDF pump-and-dump campaign, a clear signal that computers users need to defend the email gateway."
Sophos experts are also warning organizations about spammers who surf the financially rewarding pump-and-dump wave by offering investors advice on future share price movements, and even proposing to boost companies' stock prices in return for payment.
"Since their inception in 2006, Sophos podcasts have been a great success," continued Parmar. "The podcasts have covered a range of topics from the dangers of social networking to rootkits and zero-day threats - simple, digestible nuggets of security information. We would love to hear what our listeners really think, so if you have any feedback, or suggestions for new content, email studio@sophos.com."
All Sophos podcasts are available for download. Previous podcasts have covered topics such as the dangers of social networking sites, zero-day threats, data leakage prevention, anti-virus testing, and rootkits.
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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.
