We all know about the pros and cons of the Internet and most of us are also aware of the deliberate trafficking of malicious programs, spam and other bombardments that flood our inboxes. According to Symantec, a few PC attacks crawl into your Inbox by making use of titles related to world tragedies, sympathetic events and natural disasters, thus challenging the users worldwide to click on nasty links. Interestingly such spam e-mail comprises almost 85% of your entire mail Inbox! Some dominant and recent spams identified by Symantec are:

Natural Disasters
Two major natural calamities shook the world entirely in the recent months- the earthquake in China and the Myanmar cyclone. Spammers heavily used both the catastrophes to spread virus. The e-mail comprised ‘newsy’ subject lines asking them to donate money for the victims. The body of the e-mail entailed a URL to a video. However, on hitting the play button, an executable file was detected. This is none other than Trojan.Peacom.D, a Trojan virus that gathers system information and email addresses from the compromised computer. Similarly, the ghastly 26/11 terror attacks were also abused by spammers that infected millions of computer users worldwide.

Recession Spam
Is this a hot news for you? Ofcourse, the entire world is clouded with the dark cloud of recession or economic slowdown, spammers have left no stone unturned claiming that they can offer good jobs, financial security, loans and cash! Many who clicked through the links in some of these messages inadvertently downloaded a virus that enables hackers to take control of their email accounts. And many users woke up late to realize that their private data was leaked through such e-mail.

Michael Jackson spam
King of Pop, Michael Jackson’s untimely demise on 25th June 2009 catalyzed spammers all over the world. Spammers and malicious code writers riveted their attention towards his death and life beyond!

Symantec has discovered a mass-mailing worm that sends out spam email with the subject line- ‘Remembering Michael Jackson’ and has an attachment named ‘Michael songs and pictures.zip.’ The .zip file contains another file called ‘MichaelJacksonsongsandpictures.doc.exe,’ which is a copy of the worm that is executed on the user's machine when the file is opened.

Also, a few spammers have pretended to be one of the Michael Jackson’s concert ticket officer based in London. The spam e-mail requests the recipient's information in order to receive reimbursement for the ticket. Such e-mail also hid a spoofed message to lure recipients to open a malicious URL.

Swine flu spam
We is unaware these days about the infamous Swine Flu? It has created much havoc and terror in the minds of people. Using this fear factor, spammers and malware writers are using the name of the disease to reach the unpredictable. Symantec Security Response has analyzed a malicious Adobe PDF document named ‘Swine influenza frequently asked questions.pdf’ attached with an e-mail that poses ‘Swine Flu’ or anything related to the disease as title.

When the PDF file is accessed by the users, malcode within the PDF exploits an old Adobe vulnerability (BID 33751) in order to drop malware on the local computer.

Symantec has detected the malicious PDF file as Bloodhound.Exploit.6 and the dropped malicious file contained in the PDF as InfoStealer. Some Swine Flu spams also comprise vile messages with several links to a malicious video.

SMS Malware
Also termed as SMS phishing or SMSishing, these attacks have recently flooded smart-phone or mobile users in China, India and Middle East. These days, it is common for you to receive an SMS message sent from a reputable source, such as your bank, asking for personal details. However, what would you do if you received suggestive SMS messages that spoofed to be a signed Symbian malware, SymbOS.Exy.C that steals all your bank information? SMS messages with subjects such as ‘Sexy View’ or ‘Sexy Girl’ and now ‘Sexy Space’, directs recipients to download the threat from an external URL. The user is more likely to follow the link as it comes from a known source. Once they do, they are invited to download the application that gives access to the pictures. But in reality, it installs software allowing the authors to gain information to the personal details. The consequence is obviously leakage of details and a whole load of spam text messages to the owner. In addition to this, the threat sends itself to the known contacts of the owner, thus causing maximum damage.