MP3 caught in a storm

Spammers have taken to using MP3 attachments in e-mails named after recording artists as part of a pump-and-dump stock scam. When recipients click on the MP3 attachment, a voice relays a message promoting stock for a particular company, explains eWeek.

As of yesterday afternoon, no viral threats had been identified in these messages. However, from the first discovered message of this type on Wednesday, MP3 spam mails have accounted for around 7% to 10% of all spam globally over the ensuing 18 hours.

"We can say with confidence that it`s being sent from IP addresses that we know to be also infected with Storm Trojan, so it would be safe to suggest that the Storm botnet has been used for this," said Paul Wood, security analyst at MessageLabs.

Our beloved Storm strikes again.

A report shows SMEs are becoming increasingly open to attacks such as viruses, phishing and spam.

Ilva Pieterse, ITWeb contributor

A commerce graduate from VD College has surprised cyber experts in Delhi, according to New India Press.

Dipak Kumar Jain has developed a system of detecting fraudulent hacking of SMS. "I can send an SMS of different numbers to other mobiles, at any time, without the knowledge of the original mobile holders, by using their mobile numbers through my system," says Jain.

"This is how mobile hackers are playing serious mischief. My ambition is to check such cybercrime," he points out. Jain is still working on the system, which could provide vital information to the police.

A report shows SMEs are becoming increasingly open to attacks such as viruses, phishing and spam, says One Stop Click.

To make matters worse, these companies are historically more ill-equipped to deal with such issues.

Peter Watkins, Webroot chief executive, said: "SMEs often lack the monetary resources and IT expertise to install and maintain the type of protection needed in the face of today`s growing malware threats."

Infamous iPhone hacker MD Moore has posted some more exploits for us to enjoy, according to PC World.

The vulnerability, which is in the TIFF image-rendering library shared by the iPhone`s Safari browser and its e-mail program, as well as by the iTunes software, leaves the iPhone wide open to attack.

"This exploit is rock solid," Moore said in an interview. "It`s very reliable; as reliable as the WMF [Windows Metafile] exploits in Windows. You can send it in an e-mail or you can embed it in a Web page."