Spammers Exploit Georgia-Russia Conflict

Filed in archive Spam News on August 15, 2008

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Peeter Viisimaa

A new wave of spam appears to be exploiting the Georgia/Russia conflict and has a decidedly pro-Russia slant. According to a report in ComputerWorld, the spam started going out this morning and included such subject lines as ""Mikheil Saakashvili gay scandal! New of this week!" and offer a link to a fake news story which if clicked downloads malware onto the victim's computer and adds it to a new botnet. Researchers at the university of alabama, Birmingham traced the malicious spam back to 44 computers, all which have no previous spam record, and several are located in Russia.

In a related development, the website of Georgia's president, Mikheil Saakashvili was hit with a DDoS attack. It's not known if the attack and the new wave of spam are connected, but experts have been debating whether Georgia and Russia have been using cyber-warfare as part of their arsenals.