Spam emails using “swine flu” as a keyword phrase have flooded the Internet as opportunists seek to exploit concerns over the outbreak of the virus, a global cyber security firm warned on Thursday.<\/p>\n
“Spammers have quickly taken advantage of this state of alert to extend their spam campaigns,” Japanese security software maker Trend Micro said in a statement issued in Madrid.<\/p>\n
Spam emails with subject lines such as “Swine flu affects entire world” or “Swine flu epidemic” have been detected as well as those that claim to have a message from Mexican President Felipe Calderon outlining new measures that have been taken against the disease.<\/p>\n
The emails in fact direct recipients to websites of online pharmacies that peddle remedies to treat impotence and other maladies.<\/p>\n
“Swine virus has become a computer virus that takes advantage of fear, confusion and the interest for information available on the Web regarding the epidemic to spread mischievous codes, junk e-mails and infect computer equipments,” said the firm’s director for Latin America, Juan Pablo Castro.<\/p>\n
Japan’s National Institute of Infectious Diseases warned Thursday that a suspicious Japanese-language email message with an attached file called “information on swine flu” had been circulating in cyberspace.<\/p>\n
Swine fever is believed to have killed up to 84 people in Mexico — eight of them confirmed — and has spread to the United States, Europe, Israel and New Zealand.<\/p>\n