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Spam mails on Obama strikes computers
By siliconindia
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Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 21:33 IST |
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Mumbai: The glory days of Obama turns to be dangerous for the computers as a new spam mail is being delivered to thousands of computers and the links included in the email would be infected the system with the Waledec botnet. The subject line of the mail states that Obama has abandoned the presidency or no longer wants to be President.
Experts from the Marshal8e6 TRACE Labs say that the email itself is not dangerous, but the web sites that are linked to are. The users will be taken to fake Obama campaign websites like 'greatobama' or 'superobama'. The news links in the website would ask users to download a file called 'barakspeech.exe,' or a similar variant, which is a malware.
Phil Hay, Senior threat Analyst, Marshal8e6 TRACE Labs points out that the website that these spam messages link to looks official and convincing at first glance. "Closer examination reveals numerous spelling and grammatical errors on the site, which could alert wary email users that this is a trick. Unfortunately, we expect that many users who are lured to these sites will invariably click on the link and infect themselves," added Hay.
The experts advice the users to avoid downloading anything if someone clicks on one of these links attached in the websites. "Keep your browser up-to-date to minimize the likelihood of automatic infection through browser vulnerabilities," advised Hay.
According to Marshal8e6, the Waledec botnet first appeared in December 2008, and continues Storm botnet's modus operandi of distributing malware via URL links under the guise of sensational news headlines and fake greeting cards. Storm botnet ceased spamming in September 2008.