Johannesburg, 06 May 2005
Experts at SophosLabs, Sophos`s global network of virus and spam analysis centres, are unsure whether to laugh or cry at a recent development in the spammers` arsenal: apologetic humour.
Some of the latest unsolicited spam e-mails are including jokes in an attempt, they say, to decrease the irritation of recipients. In the latest incident, a spammer trying to sell their "product" has bulk-mailed hundreds of thousands of people with a joke about a blonde woman.
"The spammers` idea is quite cunning. Even though good anti-spam software will typically mark messages like this with a high spam score, a good proportion of users may deliberately retrieve it and read it if they know a joke is contained inside," says Brett Myroff, CEO of local Sophos distributor, NetXactics.
"The spammers need only take any decent (or indecent) Internet joke, perhaps by subscribing to one of the many legitimate joke of the day services, and stick a brief apology for the inconvenience and a link to their unsolicited advert at the end. Then they spam millions of unsuspecting users."
In the past, spammers have deliberately included large sections of legitimate text, such as paragraphs from news stories, in their e-mails in an attempt to "unbalance" anti-spam products` ability to determine if an e-mail is a legitimate communication or not.
Spammers including jokes in their e-mail campaigns may also be doing so in an attempt to slip past the more rudimentary anti-spam products.
Sophos recommends companies protect themselves with a consolidated solution which can defend businesses from the threats of both spam and viruses. Users should also not open, or reply to unsolicited e-mails.
Share