Security news16 March 2009
Dirty bomb news report leads to malware infection Spammers use social engineering to customise messages to potential victims' location
IT security and control firm Sophos is warning computer users around the world to be on their guard against a widespread, malicious spam campaign that poses as breaking news stories about a bomb blast in your city.
Samples intercepted by SophosLabs claim that 18 people have been killed in an explosion and link to a video news story on a supposedly Reuters-related website. In fact, computer users that click on the link will not find more information on this breaking news story, but will actually be taken to a website that is designed to infect their Windows PC with malicious code.
However, Sophos warns that many computer users may not immediately notice the danger as the website attempts to identify users' whereabouts and customises the story to appear as though it relates to their location.
"This is a clever piece of social engineering and shows the lengths that cybercriminals will go to in order to trick more potential victims," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "If you visit the webpage from Southampton, Bristol or London it is likely to claim that the bomb blast has occurred there. There are the usual clues that the observant computer user will recognise as spam - poor spelling and grammar being the key one - but the danger is that other less wary users won't notice this and will become engrossed in the story without realising that their PC is being infected as they read."
The emails have subject lines including "Why did it happen in your city?", "Take Care!" and "Are you and your friends in good health?", and part of the website text reads as follows:
More information on the threat can be found on Graham Cluley's blog.
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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.
