Hoax E-Mails Attack Beatles Fans

According to an expert in computer forensics at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham), dangerous scam e-mails are targeting fans of Beatles. Gary Warner, who operates UAB's Spam Data Mine, said that at least 36% of e-mails came in on August 19, 2008 morning led to malware-infected sites, as reported by what goes on on August 20, 2008.

The expert also said that one in every 3 spam e-mails linked to a malicious site. He further warned that the e-mails contain the subject head - "The Beatles - Back Together Again."

Furthermore, this particular e-mail scam is dangerous as it attempts to entice users into opening a bogus link, which subsequently installs malware on their PCs. Some other hoax subject heads include - "You've received a greeting card" and "Weekly Top News."

Warner further said that most of the anti-virus solutions failed to block the malicious code used in the attack. According to the tests conducted by his team, only 4 of the total 36 anti-virus solutions featured in the Virus Total malware testing facility could detect the code.

Spammers are commonly using current affairs to entice Internet users to stick with their tricks. Moreover, the recent Beatles spam attack follows the spam campaigns relating to MSNBC and CNN and the Russia-Georgia conflict.

Furthermore, the University's Spam Data Mine showed that the poorly worded Beatles spam messages account for 5% of the total spam traffic. Meanwhile, Warner's team has tracked down the origin of the e-mails to a bunch of 44 spam-distributing computers, of which 6 are situated in Russia.

Moreover, in the 2nd week of August 2008, a massive number of spam mails were sent supposedly from MSNBC and CNN. While the MSNBC and CNN e-mail spam have ended, there is still many more of the same kind in the wild. spammers have impersonated major Websites, including news sites, for years. During 2006, a widely spread spam campaign spoofed the BBC Website.

Thus, Warner and his team are advising users to avoid e-mails from unknown addresses and do not click suspicious links sent through e-mails.

Related article: Hack.Huigezi Virus Attacks China PCs Rapidly

» SPAMfighter News - 9/1/2008