Posts tagged spam
A new twist on shortened URLs as spam carriers
Nov 2nd
by Paul Wood
For some time Symantec has been warning social networking users to beware of shortened URLs as sometimes it can be hard to see where the link will actually lead.
Paul Wood
Spammers have been taking advantage of shortened URLs, and during a three-month period in 2010, Symantec found that two-thirds of malicious links in social networking news feeds used shortened URLs. Seventy-three per cent were clicked 11 times or more, with 33 per cent receiving between 11 and 50 clicks. Only 12 per cent didn’t receive any clicks.
Now Symantec is seeing a new trend and it’s a new way spammers are trying to get victims to click on links in e-mails. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadian Pharmacy spam returns with ‘wiki’ spin
Jul 6th
Pharmaceutical spam messages have been some of the most commonly used in spam attacks over the past several years. Canada has featured quite prominently in terms of this spam output due to the country’s lower priced pharmaceuticals compared to south of the border. Spammers have long taken advantage of this point and are known for dressing their attacks up to appear as though they are genuine Canadian pharmacies.
According to the June Symantec Intelligence Report, pharmaceutical product spam accounted for 40 per cent of all spam, compared to 64.2 per cent at the end of 2010.
Spammers abusing domain parking services on a massive scale
Jun 7th
By Nick Johnston
Domain parking, the act of registering an Internet domain name without placing any content on the website, is a common practice for a business website in the pre-launch stage.
These landing pages are familiar to us all, often reading “Coming Soon” or “Under Construction.” However, domain parking can also be used for less than noble reasons.
Cyber squatting, registering a domain and reselling it to a company who owns a trademark within the name, and monetized domain parking, where advertisements are displayed for revenue, are also prevalent. Read the rest of this entry »
Cutwail botnet raising spam levels once more
May 12th
There has been a recent increase in the amount of malicious email traffic detected by MessageLabs Intelligence despite a continuous decrease in the actual number of spam mail distributed.
The decrease in spam is due in large part to the takedown of Rustock, the largest spamming botnet, in March. So what accounts for this increase in malware traffic?
Paul Wood
An investigation by MessageLabs Intelligence revealed that this increase is at least due in part to the Cutwail botnet.
10 Internet threats you want to know about
Apr 15th
By Claudiu Popa
From the moment we unwrap that shiny new cell phone or unpack a new, user-friendly computer we are presented with opportunities to ‘get online’ and ‘look at stuff’. Indeed that ‘stuff’ is now the bulk of the value of the Internet as far as users – employees and home users alike – are concerned.
Claudiu Popa
Unfortunately we’re at a random point in the evolution of the Internet where the criminal element and the amoral minorities have a huge footprint in the online world. Indeed, it would not be an exaggeration to say that surfing the Internet without filtering its content is akin to having unprotected sex with strangers.
Playing with fire may be exciting at first, but the outcome is practically inevitable. And so I volunteer, in the name of randomness of course, to list my top 10 Internet security follies of the moment. Read the rest of this entry »
New pharmacy spam campaign using Google brand hijacking
Feb 17th
MessageLabs Intelligence recently tracked a new pharmaceutical spam campaign promoting a supposedly “Google-accredited” online pharmacy. This is obvious brand hijacking: Google does not host or approve any pharmacy sites.
Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst, Symantec Hosted Services
We contacted Google about this, and a spokesperson responded with, “Google has a track record of fighting similar types of scams, and we also recommend that users carefully review online offers that look too good to be true before entering any of their information: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/12/fighting-fraud-online-taking-google.html“.
The spam message contains text promoting a drug for preventing hair loss, and a link to a blog the spammer has set up on a popular free blogging site, shown in the screenshot below:
[example of spam email promoting fake pharmacy brand] Read the rest of this entry »
Commit to “Loving” your data
Feb 14th
By: Blake McConnell
For most people, Valentine’s Day conjures up thoughts of candy, flowers and secret admirers. Well, here at Symantec, it makes us think about information.
Blake McConnell
Yes, information. It may not be the most romantic notion, but the amount of “love” you give your data can have a significant impact on the success of your company. Your information – from company plans to customer financial information – is the backbone of your business, so today make a commitment to giving it a little extra care and attention.
In a recent Symantec survey, 74 per cent of SMB respondents said they were afraid of losing electronic information. Read the rest of this entry »
Spam levels decline in January, but not for long
Jan 30th
After the dramatic decline in spam levels seen over the holidays, spam now accounts for 78.6 per cent of all email traffic, the lowest rate since March 2009. Results from our January 2011 MessageLabs Intelligence Report have found that spam volumes are 65.9 per cent lower than last year at this time.
Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Senior Analyst, Symantec Hosted Services
During December 25 to January 1, spam volumes decreased from 80.2 billion spam emails per day to 33.5 billion spam emails. We have found two reasons for this dramatic decline – the first being a halt in the spam-sending activities of three botnets, Rustock, Lethic and Xarvester and the second due to unrest among pharmaceutical spam-sending gangs.
In May 2010, pharmaceutical spam peaked with 85 per cent of spam being related to pharmaceutical products. However in January 2011, MessageLabs Intelligence found that pharmaceutical spam accounted for only 59.1 per cent of all spam. The closure of spam affiliate, Spamit, in October was partially responsible for this disruption. The Canadian Pharmacy brand, previously the most prolific pharmaceutical spam brands, disappeared when Spamit shut down. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook suspends controversial data mining feature – for now
Jan 19th
Well at least this time they didn’t wait to get rapped on the knuckles by Canadian privacy and security officials.
Faced with strong criticism over a feature that allows application developers and third party Web sites to access mobile phone numbers and addresses of some of its users, Facebook announced on Monday that it was temporarily disabling the feature.
Nestor Arellano
Basically, the now suspended feature allowed developers to ask for your home address and mobile phone number if you’ve included this information in your profile.
In a blog post Facebook, says it has decided to suspend the feature after receiving “useful feedback.”
Temporarily disabling? Useful feedback? Maybe it’s more like user outrage. Don’t these people get it? Read the rest of this entry »
Security Predictions for 2011
Dec 17th
On December 7, we released our MessageLabs Intelligence 2010 Annual Security Report which highlighted the changes in the threat landscape during 2010 and looked ahead to potential trends for 2011. This blog is a snap shot of some of the trends and predictions noted in the report.
Global Spam Trends
In 2011, spam will become more culturally and linguistically diverse. The use of English in spam will fall from approximately 95 per cent of all spam to below 90 per cent driven by economic growth and broadband adoption in emerging economies. For instance, spammers will target Brazil with more than 40 percent of spam in Portuguese. Portuguese and Spanish will become some of the most popular languages used in spam other than English.
