Panda Security has announced research revealing evidence that cyber-criminals are adapting their messaging with changes in the economic landscape. Two weeks ago the global security vendor reported a correlation between stock market declines and increased malware attacks. <\/p>\n
Upon further investigating the content of spam campaigns that have experienced the most growth over the last two months, it is evident that cyber-criminals have become more sophisticated and are preying on the current economic misfortunes of consumers. <\/p>\n
According to Panda Security, spam continues to make up 90-95% of all e-mail traffic, with spam related to the economy representing ten percent of total spam. Since the stock market began to take a steady decline in September, Cloudmark reported that while overall spam has increased by five percent, the new spam related to the economy and personal finances has increased by twice that amount, i.e. 10%, during this period. <\/p>\n
Examples include malware attacks targeting consumers with credit card debt, as well as phishing attacks targeting individuals undergoing property foreclosure. By offering consumers relief for their financial woes, these attacks dupe users into clicking on links included or embedded in the e-mails, an action that automatically downloads viruses or redirects them to phishing sites. <\/p>\n
Socially engineered content from the most recent malicious spam includes:<\/p>\n
* "What’s Your Credit Score? Get it Now!";<\/p>\n
* "Premier Loan Provider.com: The Cash You need Now; Loans up to $1500";<\/p>\n
* "Payday Loan Finder";<\/p>\n
* "An Online Loan Gives You Money Now"; <\/p>\n
* "A VA loan will give you a home";<\/p>\n
* "Are you drowning in debt? Get the cash you need";<\/p>\n
* "Credit In Crisis: Get Your Free Credit Report Today";<\/p>\n
* "Don’t let your lender foreclose";<\/p>\n
* "Legally Erase Your Debt – As seen on MSNBC".<\/p>\n
"One of our biggest concerns for 2008 was that cyber-criminals would improve their targeted spamming tactics to dupe consumers, and the content and volume that we have seen during these tough economic times is proof that, unfortunately, our prediction was correct," says Jeremy Matthews, the head of sub-Saharan operations at Panda Security.<\/p>\n