Stay Alert: Spam Gets Deceptive Legitimacy
From cleverly diverting unsuspecting users to CNN on their way to a scam and disguising their wares as email from Facebook or PayPal, scammers have upped the ante on spam.
By Cecilia Galvinalvin
Spammers have become adept at using the most familiar Internet names to give deceptive legitimacy to the billions of emails they send. Between 5 and 10 percent of all spam appears to originate from Gmail accounts, for example. That’s one finding from the Internet Threats Trend Report Q1 2010 from Commtouch Inc., a messaging and Web security technology vendor with U.S. offices in Sunnyvale, Calif.†
Gmail’s message style and those of PayPal and Facebook are frequently used by spammers and phishers as templates to prompt action by their targets. In Q1, a phishing attack directed at Blogger and Google users was based on a template that effectively downplayed the “phishy” nature of the email. Another spam attack described in the report used the CNN site as a stopping point on its way to a work-at-home scam.
Commtouch’s quarterly trend report is based on the analysis of more than 2 billion email messages as well as the company’s GlobalView URL database in its cloud-based global detection and classification centers.
“Spammers and cybercriminals use experimentation to reach their goals,” says Asaf Greiner, Commtouch vice president, products. “They are always testing new techniques to lure their victims, from using familiar formats and domains to creating entirely new ways to entice action.” The company’s Recurrent Pattern Detection and GlobalView technologies are designed to identify and block messaging and Web treats.
Here are the top 10 most ridiculous spam subjects in the trend report…and Commtouch’s responses:
10. “Our watch will look great even on any loser” // Way to be blunt
9. “Jewelry, watches-the main things that show the man’s significance” // Not according to the other spam I get
8. “Do your friends make you fat?” // Um…that’s a better excuse than the cookies & the burger I just ate
7. “I want sale you rolex.. do yu want? 27” // Well, when you put it so eloquently…I’d like…27!
6. “You dont believe in ghosts” // But I *do* believe in spammers
5. “Out of my mind” // …and into our spam folders!
4. “James bond prefers Swiss watches // We doubt he buys them from you
3. “Bed fail won’t occur” // Don’t you hate it when your bed fails?
2. “Vote for Mccane on our site” // It’s a little too late for that
1. “Bash this site” // Don’t tempt me
The full report from is available at www.commtouch.com/download/1679.
