EGUSD Information Security

Well, it was only a matter of time until someone figured out how to use the H1N1 “swine flu” scare as a part of a scam. 

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Here is another spam/phishing attack that got caught by the district spam filter. This one purports to announce an update to Facebook, and asks you to click on the link to get the update.

However, the link goes to http://www.facebook.com.sazzawe.eu/. I have no idea what will be downloaded if you click on it, but you can be sure it will be nothing good…

Users of Facebook are being targeted by controllers of a botnet by the name of Pushdo. A “botnet” is a collection of computers connected to the Internet that have had malicious software (called “bots”) installed without the owner’s knowledge. This software allows the botnet “herder” to take control of the computer and issue commands for any number of purposes. These computers with the bots installed (often called “zombies”) may be used as part of denial of service attack, they may be used to steal personal and financial data, or used to crack the encryption on a secures system.

This particular attack takes the form of an e-mail to the Facebook user telling them that their password has been reset. The user is asked to open an attached file which supposedly contains the new Facebook password, but which actually downloads the malicious software. The Pushdo botnet then turns the zombie into a spam server, sending e-mail messages to users around the world. It is believed that this botnet may be responsible for the spam/phishing campaign with e-mails purportedly coming from the FDIC (see previous post).

To minimize the risk of your home computer becoming part of a botnet, you should always keep your anti-virus up to date; utilize any anti-spam features available though your e-mail provider; never click on links or download any software that you did not request; and turn your home computer off or disconnect it from the network when not in use.

For more information, please see:
http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid14_gci1372558,00.html.