YouTube is being used to spread video spam through mass mailing of unsolicited messages that include links to video advertisements, according to Kaspersky Lab.
The security company's content filtering research group, which recently recorded the mass mailing, said although the messages in the mass mailing varied, they all included the same link to the video hosting site.
Kaspersky says YouTube is a potentially attractive resource for distributing spam due to its popularity worldwide, and forecast the use of this medium as early as 2007. However, this is the first time Kaspersky analysts have uncovered a mass mailing specifically aimed at getting users to watch an advertising video.
“Naturally, this type of advertising is more interesting and gets more hits,” says Darya Gudkova, head of content analysis and research at Kaspersky Lab.
“Two years ago spammers used the YouTube name and the promise of interesting videos to lure users to advertising sites. Now the links really do lead to this popular video hosting site which is being used to store unsolicited advertising content.”
The company says several creative approaches have been used by spammers this year, and cites April an as example, during which messages were found containing non-standard, complex images advertising spammer services. “Noise techniques have also been applied to graphical files, causing problems for spam filters.”
Kaspersky stresses that it is vital for users to keep spam filters turned on to prevent spam or potentially hazardous correspondence from being received.
Share