First so I don’t offend anyone, I’m not useing the word Nazi in a bad sense, only like Seinfield in the Soup Nazi episode. We have began actually following RFC821.
So what is an RFC? Well it is a Request for Comments. It is the standards that defines the Internet and how it operates. It also refers to the way RFC documents are discussed and approved by the Internet community.
It is holiday time again, and everyone wants to be the “Little Tech Elf” and send their friends and family E-Cards. Well I’m going to tell you why you shouldn’t.
Well we have another one following on the heals of the CNN Alert and CNN.com Daily Top 10. These are the same and have links to download an updated flash player. The flash player is NOT flash player at all but a trojan.
Some examples of the Subject:
msnbc.com – BREAKING NEWS: All Baseball Players May Be Indicted For Steroid Abuse
msnbc.com – BREAKING NEWS: SJC Loosens Handgun Control To Stimulate Economy
msnbc.com – BREAKING NEWS: Elizabeth Taylor found murdered at home
msnbc.com – BREAKING NEWS: Nature Did Not Connect the Funny Bone to the Satire Bone
They are also starting a BBC NEWS and just a breaking news. None of the From: fields are msnbc, cnn, or BBC. So lets just start calling this the news alert virus. These viruses are based on the assumption that someone they are sending to is signed up to receive the alert. Without looking just clicking links, I know for one I am signed up to receive some of these type of alerts. I guess one of the things that have saved me is I only receive email in plain text and I do not click on the links if they are not from the sending domain. For instance in one of the breaking news from msnbc.com the link goes to www.4×4.co.rs and well this is NOT msnbc.com. So some tips:
If you receive breaking news alerts instead of clicking the link move your mouse over the link and copy the shortcut. Open your web browser and paste it into the web browsers URL field. If the URL is NOT to the site the email came from DO NOT GO TO IT. Delete it from the URL and delete the email.
Remember folks this is a simple one. If you are NOT expecting the email do not open it, especially if it has an attachment. If it is from someone you know and it has an attachment call them and ask “Hey what is this your sending me” if they do not know then do NOT open it. It is just common sense.
If you go to a web site and it wants you to update any software go to the original site to update it. For instance all these trojans want you to update FLASH Player. Go to the Adobe download site at http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/ and update your flash player. Do NOT update it from a web site you do not know. You should never install and or update software from a web site that you do not know.
Others:
http://www.securitywatch.co.uk/2008/08/13/msnbccom-breaking-news-spam/
http://blog.mxlab.be/2008/08/13/msnbccom-breaking-news/
http://www.securitywatch.co.uk/2008/08/13/msnbccom-breaking-news-spam/
http://www.securitymanagement.com/news/beware-msnbc-com-breaking-news-spam-e-mails-004502
http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Alerts/3159.aspx
This is a question I get asked nearly daily. So why do people send spam? I could answer this real fast and be done. Its simple, Money! That is the reason, plain and simple.
So the next question is, What?!?! Yes people buy the things being hocked by the spammers. If they didn’t and there was no money, then what would be the point of spamming?
The reasons people buy the things spammers are hocking is simple. Vanity, Men are Vain (edited per comment from the Grammar Nazi)! Oh there I said it. Even more so then women. Notice that most spam is for either sexual dysfunction, or balding. I do not know of any women that are having trouble getting their P3N!S hard. But yes even when someone spells something wrong like that, men will buy it. It is the anonymity of the Internet that makes it so easy for men to buy the items being sold. So while you are at work today, look around, I’m sure you’ll see several men that have bought something from an email. Just speaking statistically there has to be someone buying.
“I don’t even have a penis why do they keep sending me penis pill spam!”
Because they are shooting in the dark, hoping that you have one! They don’t know for sure. This is how it works. Send to millions of address and hope that a small percent will buy the products being sold.
A company sends out 1.5 Million emails, each one sent to an address they have bought or generated themselves. Now most of them are going to be stopped by some type of filter. Some are address that no longer exist. Out of all this 11,000 people click on a link in the email, and 6000 purchase the bottle of pills for $50. This is $300,000 dollars, maybe not good for you, but not to bad for me. This is a %0.4 turn around, and this is a good thing. Most get less. Most are only getting around %0.01. When thinking of this, also know that one botnet is sending out over 1 billion emails a day.
A new Email Service – Not So Fast!
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