Social engineering plays a big role in today's threat landscape. It continues to evolve as the landscape itself changes, making use of today's news and exciting events to trick the unfortunate. Spam purporting to come from legitimate senders has been and still is a threat to Internet users. One such campaign infiltrated companies and homes alike.
Trend Micro is warning users of yet another spam campaign using the forthcoming FIFA World Cup 2010 tournament as bait.
It seems that unsolicited e-mails are being sent that carry a .pdf file attachment, which purports to contain details about a 'lottery prize'. The recipient is asked for personal information that must be sent to the contact or e-mail sender before the prize can be claimed.
“It's interesting to note that the purported sender of these e-mails is Mrs Michelle Matins, Executive Vice-President, who was also the signatory for the 419 scam, aka the Nigeria scam," commented Jovi Umawing of Trend Micro's technical communications department.
"However, some samples retrieved were noticeably free from attachments, and were purportedly sent by a FIFA vice-president named Geoff Thompson. On further investigation, it was discovered that he too was related to an old scam."
“Trend Micro first spotted a World Cup scam back in 2009 that also involved the recipient winning an online lottery,” continued Umawing, “and therefore users should be wary of receiving more of these kinds of attacks or variants of these attacks, as the event draws closer.”
“The 2010 World Cup is the first of the 'social media age',” added CNN, “and thus the world may see record levels of global interactivity surrounding this event."
For further information, please contact Lee Bristow at tel +27 11 790 2500; e-mail leeb@securedata.co.za.
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Trend Micro
Trend Micro Incorporated, a global leader in Internet content security, focuses on securing the exchange of digital information for businesses and consumers. A pioneer and industry vanguard, Trend Micro is advancing integrated threat management technology to protect operational continuity, personal information, and property from malware, spam, data leaks and the latest Web threats. Trend Micro's flexible solutions, available in multiple form factors, are supported 24/7 by threat intelligence experts around the globe. Many of these solutions are powered by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network, a next-generation cloud-client content security infrastructure designed to protect customers from Web threats.
SecureData
SecureData is a specialist, value-added distributor of perimeter, application, network, endpoint, storage and identity information security solutions and risk management solutions for the African sub-continent and Indian Ocean islands. A cross-section of the available solutions from SecureData illustrates wide coverage of the following information security and risk management domains: business continuity, security appliances and devices, hardware authentication, identity and access management, security and vulnerability management, secure content management, threat management and security services.
SecureData's information security and risk management solutions include best-of-breed solutions, devices and appliances for the perimeter, data centres, applications, network, endpoints, messaging and Web. In addition, as a value-add to vendor, channel and customer, SecureData also provides a full complement of support, pre-sales and professional services around the solutions positioned in each discrete security vertical.
For more information, visit SecureData at http://www.securedata.co.za.
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