Spammers cash in of Swine Flu

NEW DELHI, INDIA: F-Secure says spammers are taking advantage of public concern about the swine flu (also known as H1N1) outbreak. 1,344 domains registered over the weekend are using the words swine flu. So far, none of the domains are hosting any malicious files expect the 'Swine Flu FAQ' exploit reported last week.

The first swine flu e-mail with a malicious attachment surfaced last week. An Adobe PDF document entitled 'Swine influenza frequently asked questions.pdf' drops a password stealer and then opens a clean PDF file as a decoy.

Wing Fei Chia, Security Response Manager, F-Secure Security Labs said, “The attacks arrive via an unsolicited e-mail message typically containing a subject line related to the Swine Flu. These e-mail messages may contain a link or an attachment. If users click on this link or open the attachment, they may be directed to a phishing website or exposed to malicious code.”