Chinese Earthquake Malware
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Inboxes are currently being inundated by emails that supposedly link to important news about a devastating earthquake that hit China. However, the supposed news is entirely untrue. Clicking the links can open a bogus website that can trick the user into downloading and installing malware.
The malware emails capitalize on the earthquake that recently occurred in China by pretending that another such event has occurred. They also use mounting public excitement about the upcoming Olympic games as a ruse to entice people to click the bogus links. Some of the emails falsely claim that the Games may be canceled or postponed due to the supposed earthquake:
The emails have a number of subject lines and text, including those listed below.
Subject:The capital of China were collapsed by earthquake
Destruction in China continue [MALWARE LINK REMOVED]
Subject:2008 Olympic Games are under the threat
Death toll in China exceeds 1000000 [MALWARE LINK REMOVED]
Subject: Death toll in China is growing
Chinese people are horrified by new earthquake [MALWARE LINK REMOVED]
Subject:Earth tremors in China is going on
Destruction in China continue [MALWARE LINK REMOVED]
There are many other similar emails being distributed. If you receive any unsolicited email claiming to have news about an earthquake in China, do not click on any links or open any attachments that come with the message.
For more information, see:
New spam campaign targets Olympic Games fans
posted by Brett Christensen @ 8:46 AM,
