May 2009
BitDefender▓s Spam Omelette 27 Spotlights ⌠Privacy■ as Top Spam Word In Weekly Analysis of E-Threats
Week 27: The word ⌠Privacy■ dominates Spam Omelette in spam campaigns related to medical spam
The word ⌠PRIVACY■ has been identified as the top spam word in Spam Omelette 27, BitDefender▓s weekly review on spam and the latest industry trends. Spam Omelette is part of MalwareCity.com, which is supported by BitDefender╝.
In week 27 of Spam Omelette, the top spam words include:
1. PRIVACY√ Ranking first in this week's Spam Omelette, the word ⌠PRIVACY■ has been identified by BitDefender researchers in messages related to medical spam from Canadian Pharmacy. Canadian Pharmacy illegally uses the logo and visual identity elements of WebMD, a legitimate health news company, in a HTML spam template with tampered privacy and unsubscribe links that direct users to the Canadian Pharmacy index page.
2. PLEASE√ The word ⌠PLEASE■ ranks second in Spam Omelette 27 and has been identified in a Nigerian scam campaign. This week▓s Nigerian scam campaign is notable because the spam messages are not sent with the purpose of collecting advanced fees like usual. Instead, the messages attempt to collect sensitive information such as full name, address, occupation and copies of ID cards - all of which can be used for identity theft and/or credit card fraud.
3. CLICK√ Ranking third, the word "CLICK" has been identified by BitDefender's spam researchers in multiple e-mail messages advertising sexual medicine, software used for panoramic tours, and e-banking phishing letters. While Canadian Pharmacy spam and other medical-related spam are unlikely to cause security problems for the user, phishing attempts can create security problems including using personal information to steal money from the user.
4. EMAIL√ Ranking fourth in this week▓s Spam Omelette is the word ⌠EMAIL.■ EMAIL or E-MAIL has been detected in spam messages from Canadian Pharmacy. Disguised as newsletters from various online medicine sites, the message features a centered image linking to a Canadian Pharmacy website.
This week, a majority of the Canadian Pharmacy spam redirects users via a Russian portal (www.zmelika.ru - the domain uses the Cyrillic alphabet rather than the Latin alphabet) which performs the redirect and keeps tab of which e-mail addresses have clicked on the link. This is a form of email validation that allows the spammer to identify which e-mail addresses are being operated by a human user.
5. DRUGSTORE√ The word ⌠DRUGSTORE■ ranks last on Spam Omelette 27 and has been detected in spam messages from Canadian Pharmacy and its affiliates. This spam wave uses a standard, plain-text template and advertises significant discounts on Pfizer products.
To read the entire Spam Omelette # 27, 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.
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