According to Symantec, spammers are targeting a new group of people in an attempt to obtain personal information - addicts.
The company says it has seen an emergence of rehab-related spam. Spammers are sending emails with subject headers like 'Get help today with Drug Rehab Info' and 'Overcome Alcoholism Today' hoping that a recipient's fragile state and the hope of help with encourage them to give away their personal details.
Symantec's most recent spam report shows how spammers are targeting this group to glean personal information.
However, the company says it saw spammers use a more scaremongering approach in July, using a virus that claimed that World War III had begun.
"A spam message was found containing Trojan.Peacomm, which reports that 'Third World War has begun' and 'US soldiers occupied Iran'. The spammers are trying to take advantage of curiosity into world events to spread the Trojan," says Symantec.
Symantec says other highlights of the month include phishing emails that targeted Microsoft POP3 users with a fraud attack. "The email shows a warning but the URL in the message does not lead the recipient to the Microsoft web site, but to a hacked site."
It also says recent news events, such as the Olympics, the US presidential election and Barrack Obama's trip to Europe are being heavily targeted. "Legitimate websites were often hacked to host the malware for these attacks," Symantec concludes.
Share
