Internet security company Kaspersky Lab says it has witnessed mass mailings of Trojans and worms masquerading as Valentine's Day e-mails.
The vendor says every year, the day sees a rather high concentration of spam, the most common being fake e-cards, containing different malicious attachments.
The head of content analysis and research at Kaspersky Lab, Darya Gudkova, says most people are eager and willing to believe that a 'secret admirer' has sent them a card and open the attachment or click on the link.
“Once opened, such attachments can harm your computer, steal your personal data or use your computer for DDoS and spam sending.”
Fortunately, however, this year's Valentine's Day spam thus far has been mostly harmless. But the danger of such e-mails should not be underestimated, adds Gudkova.
Valentine's spam usually appears towards the end of January and continues until the middle of February and this year, it was no different, it says.
“Valentine's Day saw an influx in adverts offering expensive alcohol and chocolates, jewellery and leather goods and romantic trips for two.”
Other goods that are traditionally advertised in spam, such as fake designer watches and Viagra, also exploited the day's theme to grab the attention of e-mail recipients, the security vendor notes.
Kaspersky Lab divides Valentine's spam into three categories: special valentine's offers like expensive alcohol, chocolate and jewellery, the usual offers which mention Valentine's just to attract attention for example Viagra spam, and malicious Valentine's spam which resemble e-cards from well-known e-card services.
Share