BitDefender▓s Spam Omelette 18 Spotlights ⌠XRISIS■ as Top Spam Word In Weekly Analysis of E-Threat Trends

The word ⌠XRISIS■ has been identified as the top spam word in Spam Omelette 18, BitDefender▓s weekly review on spam and the latest industry trends.

Spam Omelette is part of Spam Omelette, the top spam words include:

1. XRISIS√ Ranking first in this week's Spam Omelette, the word "XRISIS" has been detected by BitDefender researchers in spam messages taking advantage of the current economic turmoil by advertising free credit reports. Although the service is allegedly available for U.S. residents, the spam messages have been sent globally regardless of the recipient▓s location.

2. INFORMATION√The word ⌠INFORMATION■ ranks second in Spam Omelette 18. In this spam wave, Canadian Pharmacy impersonates seemingly legitimate newsletters from trustworthy organizations such as About.com. The spam campaign also relies on enticing subject lines in an attempt to lure users into opening the email.

3. UNSUBSCRIBE√ Ranking third in this week's Spam Omelette, the word "UNSUBSCRIBE" has been identified in a second spam wave sent by Canadian Pharmacy. The forged unsubscribe link is widely used among spammers because it allows them to more reliably sort active and inactive email addresses. Messages in this spam wave make heavy use of catchy subject lines in an attempt to trick users into opening the email.

4. EMAIL √ Ranking fourth in this week▓s Spam Omelette, the word ⌠EMAIL has been identified in a third spam wave from Canadian Pharmacy. Users can find the word ⌠EMAIL■ in the footer message of the email along with the fake unsubscribe link.

5. PLEASE √ The word ⌠PLEASE■ ranks last in Spam Omelette 18 and is found in unsolicited messages bundled with HTML attachments. The spam message touts miraculous methods of earning large amounts of money by simply visiting a few websites. The message urges users to open the HTML attachments for instructions on how to earn the money. However, the attachments contain an iframe to a malicious website that plants malware on the user▓s computers.

To read the entire Spam Omelette # 18, please visit MalwareCity.com.

To create Spam Omelette, BitDefender analyzes approximately 7 million spam messages collected through BitDefender's worldwide network of ⌠honey pots.■ A honey pot is an e-mail address that is only used to collect spam. The large number of analyzed messages and the global distribution of honey pots ensure reliable results.

The resulting map provides visual cues for understanding what the new trends in spam messages are, while providing significant insight to researchers on the current spam campaigns.