Swine Flu Spam
Monday April 27, 2009 at 5:56 am CST
Posted by Chris Barton, Research Scientist and Artemis Geek
The Swine Flu pill spam has started and it’s taking a few Hollywood stars names in vain. Nothing out of the ordinary with the sites on the far end yet though I do expect Oseltamivir [AKA Tamiflu] will get some extra exposure once the affiliate pill sites are updated.
Subjects:
First US swine flu victims!
US swine flu statistics
Salma Hayek caught swine flu!
Swine flu worldwide!
Swine flu in Hollywood!
Swine flu in USA
Madonna caught swine flu!
Also we’ve noticed domain name registrations mentioning the word swine are up by about 30 times and you can bet your daughters it’s not all going to be “whitehat” SEO.
April 27th, 2009 at 06:18
It is fairly inevitable. The sad part is that the Internet has such potential as a resource of instant news and information, but because spam purveyors, malware developers, and phishing attackers prey on the news headlines most likely to draw attention people have to be much more cautious and filter the news and information through a lens of skepticism.
There is real information out there as well. Just exercise some common sense. Don’t click on links from within emails (open a web browser and find the site manually rather than clicking a link that could redirect you to a malicious site) and don’t open any file attachments.
April 27th, 2009 at 07:12
[...] Looks like the spammers started some time early this morning: Swine Flu spam from McAfee Avert Labs [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 12:21
[...] <http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/> [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 13:01
[...] is aware of public reports of email scams circulating related to the Swine Flu. The attacks arrive via an unsolicited email [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 13:37
[...] http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/ [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 13:43
[...] the spammers are using Swine Flu, in conjunction with the names of famous stars, to encourage recipients to open spam [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 14:32
[...] hecho acabo de leer en un artículo de El Comercio donde ya se informa por parte de McAfee Avert Labs de que ya existen mails con el asunto “swine flu” (peste porcina) y otros tantos con el título [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 18:31
[...] the swine flu break out as much as 2 percent of all spam has the words swine flu in the subject line. Numerous websites using swine flu have also been [...]
April 27th, 2009 at 23:09
[...] According to McAfee Avert Labs, over the weekend spammers began pumping out junk e-mail with various Swine Flu subject lines to trick people into opening the missives. McAfee says the first of those spam campaigns amounted to about 2 percent of global spam volume. [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 05:50
[...] varkensgriep spam mailtje is gesignaleerd. De eerste varkensgriep spam is inmiddels al gemeld door Avertlabs.com. En volgens virusbestrijder McAfee is spam over de varkensgriep inmiddels goed voor 3 tot 4 procent [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 06:47
[...] scammers and spammers are actively exploiting the swine flu buzz across the web by spamvertising links to pharmaceutical [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 09:37
[...] Swine Flu Spamhttp://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/http://blog.trendmicro.com/swine-flu-outbreak-hits-the-web-through-spam/ [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 09:45
[...] la influenza o “guías” para sobrevivir en medio de esta alerta. También ya hay spam que aprovecha esta situación de [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 13:03
[...] such as Hurricane Katrina and most recently, swine flu. Since the swine flu outbreak, as much as 2% of all spamhas the words “swine flu” in the subject line. Numerous websites referencing swine flu [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 13:54
[...] According to McAfee Avert Labs, an online security company, spammers began pumping out e-mails as soon as the first accounts of swine flu were being reported in the news, accounting for two percent of all spam messages. The messages include such subject lines as, “Madonna caught swine flu!” and “Swine flu in Hollywood!” The company reports that the e-mails do not contain malware but often link to online pharmacies. [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 16:22
[...] <http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/> [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 21:30
[...] Avert Labs has its own warning, about similar spam messages. This are more typical of the ones you see selling [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 23:04
[...] <http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/> [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 23:23
[...] Avert Labs has its own warning, about similar spam messages. This are more typical of the ones you see selling [...]
April 28th, 2009 at 23:28
[...] or by replying to the e-mail with their e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number.McAfee’s Avert Labs has its own warning, about similar spam messages. This are more typical of the ones you see selling [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 02:13
[...] Spam zu angeblich angepassten Versionen des Grippemittels Tamiflu (oder Oseltavimir) , wie etwa die McAfee Avert-Labs melden. [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 07:19
[...] the US-CERT… US-CERT is aware of public reports of email scams circulating related to the Swine Flu. The attacks arrive via an unsolicited email [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 08:02
[...] usuarios de Internet sobre ataques y envíos de spam relacionados con la influenza porcina, citando reportes de AvertLabs de McAfee, sobre todo debido a correos que contienen archivos adjuntos con virus o [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 09:14
Is there some MTIS or Avert Notice with more detail for customers?
Thanks,
JC
April 29th, 2009 at 11:47
[...] McAfee Avert Labs also has information on swine flu-related spam on its site. [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 19:09
[...] Following up on Chris Barton’s excellent blog the other day on swine flu spam, we wanted to take a closer look at the [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 22:14
[...] a blog posting today, another McAfee researcher, Chris Barton, said to expect the pharmaceutical sites to soon start [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 03:39
[...] Avert Labs has its own warning, about similar spam messages. This are more typical of the ones you see selling [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 05:01
[...] Avert Labs has its own warning, about similar spam messages. This are more typical of the ones you see selling [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 07:03
[...] infatti, circolando mail di spam che hanno come oggetto termini che si riferiscono proprio all’influenza suina e abbinano questo [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 08:09
[...] flooded with messages promising vaccines, protection and other fantasies, while actually containing viruses or simply the chance to waste your money. Or just the chance to hawk a legitimate product in poor [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 15:27
[...] firm McAfee reports that spammers are using the celebrities’ names to sell flu remedies and to spread [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 20:51
[...] McAfee Avert Labs recomienda a los usuarios no abrir estos mensajes y no dar clic en los enlaces incluidos en los correos electrónicos. Para obtener más información visite: http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/ [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 22:30
[...] Looking at Swine Flu Spam Globally – Spammers Trying To Cash In on Swine Flu Frenzy – Swine Flu Spam Címkék: McAffe, F-Secure, madonna, swine flu, [...]
May 1st, 2009 at 18:33
[...] http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/ Tags: Epidemia, Influenza, mcafee, México, porcina, spam [...]
May 2nd, 2009 at 15:31
[...] new report from the security guys over at McAfee says that around 2% of all spam email currently focuses on the topic of swine [...]
May 3rd, 2009 at 08:07
[...] segnalano i tentativi di sfruttare la voglia di saperne di più da parte degli utenti, McAfee segnala un aumento di spam con oggetto l’influenza suina, ma anche SophosLabs ci mette [...]
May 4th, 2009 at 16:47
[...] http://www.avertlabs.com/research/blog/index.php/2009/04/27/swine-flue-spam/ [...]
May 9th, 2009 at 22:23
[...] Consulting is aware of public reports of email scams circulating related to the Swine Flu. The attacks arrive via an unsolicited email [...]
May 21st, 2009 at 16:07
[...] beware of an increase in Swine Flu pill spam! Share and [...]
July 8th, 2009 at 11:38
Hmm. I’ve never seen any of those.. but then again, my email address doesn’t often get spam…