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Customised 'bomb attack' emails delivering malware

Elinor Mills CNET News

Published: 17 Mar 2009 09:09 GMT

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Security experts warned on Monday of a new insidious email scam that features false information about a bomb explosion in the recipient's home town and leads to a malicious website.

The subject lines include 'Take Care!' and 'Are you and your friends in good health?'. The email includes a link to what looks like a news article on a Reuters page about the bombing. But the web page and the news are fake, according to email security provider Marshal and antivirus firm Sophos.

The scammers are using IP address geolocation techniques to figure out which city the recipient lives in and are localising the fake bomb news to that location.

Meanwhile, clicking on the fake Reuters video page leads to malicious Waledac code being downloaded on the computer, the security firms said.

Earlier this year, the Waledac worm tricked people with fake Valentine's emails.

The fake page circulating now also includes Wikipedia and Google search links as 'Related Links' at the bottom in an attempt to make the page look legitimate. However, missing words in the text of the story and poor grammar are giveaways that the page is fake.

Waledac
Attackers are using IP address geolocation techniques to tailor fake news to the home town of the email recipient in the latest Waledac scam
 

Credit: Scammers customize news to deliver you malware from CNET News

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