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June 21st, 2008

Another Round Of Fake Breaking News Spam Installs Malware

Nuwar spammers have recently moved from real news of natural disasters and current affairs to creating their own fictional events in an attempt to infect users computers. This new high volume spam campaign is using some attention drawing subjects to lure people into clicking on the links.

The spam message has a list of newsworthy subjects that are being used by both the subject and the message body. Here is a list subjects discovered so far by Sophos and McAfee:

Bad press surrounds US Army as renegade soldiers open fire on civilians
Boston’s MIT hit by massive corruption scandal
Click here for a massive boost to your sex life
Columbia admits directors have been stealing
DA rolls over on Britney foot-fault case
Don’t belittle the effects of power enlargement
Don’t let old age shrivel away your self esteem when you can maintain with herbal supplements
Don’t panic when you cannot score with the girl that you have a crush on
Dutch disqualified from Euro Championships
Enlargement does not involve putting a big hole in your pockets
Ex-Pentagon lawyers challenged on sex abuse in Iraq
Fantastic upgrade to your manhood available now
Gather your loose change to try out the revolutionary herbal supplement
Get the latest herbal enhancements to grow your large howitzer now
Gloomy Americans still spending money admist economy gloom
Great improvement to your sex life guaranteed
Harvard Medical School admits embezzlement by directors
Heir to Prada empire found strangled
Herbal supplement at merely 5 cents a day
Hollywood hit by Aids scandal, more than 20 stars implicated
Italy showed France the difference in length
Keep this new herbal supplement out of reach from your friends
Lakers bombed out after big loss to Celtics
Lindsay Lohan converts to Islam, causes uproar
Make sure you do not miss the action – get your organ enlargement package now
Obama caught with pants down with Clinton
Opponents of gay marriage stay quiet
Ralph Lauren found dead in country home
Red cross shown to abuse power in latest aid
Ring it up for Celtics after fantastic win
Studies have shown that this herbal solution really makes a difference in men’s health
The enlargement is so powerful it will make you increase in your strength
The greatest gift of all is the secret to the fountain of youth
The most affordable herbal supplement that works to increase your self esteem
The real reason why Anne Hathaway splits from longtime love
Try out the latest herbal solution that will make you a new superhero
US election campaign shames after sex scandal exposure
US Soldier throws boy off cliff, villagers enraged
You better be home to receive this package that will change your life
Britney found hanged in locker room
White House hit by lightning, catches fire
Oprah found sleeping the streets
Eiffel Tower damaged by massive earthquake
Donald Trump missing, feared kidnapped
Lastest! Obama quits presidential race

This clever social engineering technique exploits people weakness for news of natural disasters and celebrities. The emails contain plain text and always include a link that looks fairly harmless but in fact redirects to a web page that attempts to install malware.

In this particular campaign all the links go to a fake pornotube page hosted on legitimate sites that have been hacked. If you click on the video, which is actually just an image, it tries to download an executable file. This is detected by McAfee as BackDoor-DNM and also by most other anti-virus products. The spam is also currently detected by anti-spam products.

Users are advised to run updated anti-virus software and never click on links in an email unless they come from a verified person.

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