Spam Getting Sneaky

Filed in archive Spam News on March 11, 2008

In a recent report, Google's Postini team is warning enterprises to be on alert for socially generated spam and virus attacks. The report found that while threats to enterprise messaging security and compliance appear to be leveling off this year, new techniques using social engineering are on the rise. The report also noted that the size of spam mails is increasing as spammers use pdfs, images and multimedia files such as MP3's and videos to evade spam filters. The Postini team is predicting that new attacks will be launched from web and auction sites, social networks, and even blogs. The new tactics attempt to trick users into launching actions that will reveal confidential data to attackers:

Attacks will take the form of sneaky viruses that will blend with spam, leveraging specific current events, such as the Super Bowl or the Summer Olympic Games. Moreover, virus attacks will target executives at companies whose intellectual property is deemed valuable on the black market. These attacks will masquerade as legitimate business agencies, such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Better Business Bureau and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The team predicts that these attacks may force companies into changing how they contact customers by doing such things as no longer using links in emails.

The report surveyed 575 IT professionals and can be read in it's entirety here.