A Storm of Scary Email
Thursday July 24, 2008
The Storm trojan earned its nickname after it spammed an email with the incendiary subject line "230 dead as storm batters Europe". That email, sent in January 2007, coincided with a very real storm that actually did result in the tragic loss of life in Europe. Other urgent sounding subject lines sent by Stom include "British Muslims Genocide", "Chinese missile shot down Russian satellite", or "Fidel Castro dead". In recent weeks, a rash of spam has been sent that bear much resemblance to the all-too-familiar tactics of Storm. Here are some of the newer subject lines used. >> Full Story
Comments
Mary,
WHEN do you stop to publish non sense about SPAM ?
WHEN do you ask your publisher to help us to stop all kind of SPAN definitivele and to made that we receive all our NEEDED Messages without any SPAM problem ?????
John
>> cust.bluewin.ch
Touched a nerve did we?
I’ve had quite a lot of these “news headline” style spam mails. I had the Obama-running-mate-for MCain-one, but the most memorable was “Elton John shot dead”! Foirtunately, I know exactly which news sites send me email alerts, so I ignored the bogus items.
One enfuriating, and not directly related, development is that I am getting an enormous amount of spam on one email account from a site claiming to be a Canadian pharmaceutical drugs supplier (not viagra products, but straight-forward meds like, say, anti-biotics). What annoys me is that none of these is addressed to my email addy, so how the heck do they end up in my inbox?
I will add one more remark. I was not sure what the person above was driving at, but I personally find this antivirus strand very helpful for keeping me on my toes when it comes to scvams and spams. So, thank you!
Thanks for your kind remarks, NickyK.
In addition to the ‘To:’ address field and the ‘cc:’ address field, there is a third hidden field known as ‘bcc’ (blind carbon copy). Addresses on the bcc line don’t show up in the sent email so only the sender knows who was included. In other words, an email might not look like it was ‘to’ you because the spammer hid your address by putting it on the bcc field.
Thanks for the reply which is very interesting and gratefully received.
I suppose it is not possible to block blind carbon copies? It is not a crisis in my email day, just rather annoying! I love my email. It is one of the most important ways for me to keep in touch with friends who live abroad. I get very inconvenienced with yet another “Canadian Pharmacy” mail that isn’t addressed to me. I have tried all I know, including unqisely opening a few emails so that I could then ban the sender. They use new sender-addresses which is what you imply with BCC.
Thanks again. I read every update I receive very closely. They have not only helped me. A friend signed up for an internet bank a few weeks ago. I got an email from the bank (independent to my chum) asking me to conform my details. Well, I don’t have an account with that internet bank, so I telephoned my friend to remind him not to click on the link (if he got sent one) but sign in personally using his own links. I knew to advise him because of what I had read here. So, your efforts are welcomed! Believe me!
You can, it seems, never be too careful.
Oh and torrents? JUST DON’T! One of my best friends had his hard drive destroyed when he tried a torrent. Don’t do this thing!
Sorry to go on, but I am so concerned for safety!
best wishes and thanks again!
N
The best way I’ve found to deal with bcc spam is to do the opposite. I create rules for all my legitimate email. If an email is addressed To me, or my address is on the cc: line, it goes in a folder of email that I read (or try to read) right away. I also subscribe to a lot of groups and newsletters, so I add rules for each of those. If my name isn’t on the To line, and it’s not on the cc line, and it’s not a newsletter or group to which I subscribe, then it stays in my default inbox folder. The end result is that nearly all the email in the default inbox folder turns out to be bcc spam, while the mail that’s legitimate is neatly distributed to various folders I’ve specified. I only wish I could be as organized in real life, LOL!
Thanks.
I am not sure this helps. Sadly. I am getting emails in my inbox that are not addressed to me and I can’t work out any back-track. I can’t get them sent to another folder as I would with the usual spam because they get delivered directly to me, even though they are not addressed to me. I have tried everything. It is beginning to really annoy me.
Yes, I accept that it is unlikely that you can help with this, even with the best of will. Thanks anyway.
Yes, I have tried telling the emnail provider, and I have tried resetting everything. No joy!
Thanks again,
N
Hi Nicky, what I’m suggesting is that you do the opposite. You can’t filter bcc email, so what you need to do is filter your legitimate email instead. If you send all your good email to other designated folders, pretty much the only thing left in your main folder will be the bcc spam. It’s not a perfect solution, but it will make it a lot easier to deal with it quickly and efficiently. All you really have to do at that point is select what’s left over and delete it.
Thanks for your suggestion. I am sorry, but I don’t understand what you suggest I do.
Perhaps the best is that I close down the annoying account and move my safe chums to a different one!
Thanks again for the suggestions, Appreciated!
N
Thanks for the info Mary….yes I been getting lots of extra spam lately…the usual inheritance, lottery, Russian brides and pills….most are sent to the spam folder but a few get through.
The thing I find a bit scary about some is they use keywords I have used at times..a key-logger maybe or just plain coincidence?
Anyhow keep up the good work..some of us do appreciate your efforts.
Regards Tony
Thanks, Tony!
Re: contextual spam, I wish I could tell you it was just pure coincidence. The sad reality is that some websites accept payment from spammers to place special cookies on visitors’ computers. These tracking cookies work across all partnering sites, feeding that usage data back to the spammers. In turn, you end up with spam that matches something you just searched on or keywords centric to a site you visited.
You can cut your risk of this by blocking all third-party cookies. If you encounter a site that requires third-party cookies for a legitimate reason, most browsers will allow you to create an exception on an individual site basis.
call me crazy but I never receive spam on my Gmail account. Though the occasional, email here and there, but no spam, thankfully…
If you really want to kiss goodbye to 99% of spam move to FastMail: www.fastmail.fm. It takes a bit of setting up but it is WELL worth persevering. Not only does it remove nearly all spam, but it gives you incredible flexibility in handling both incoming and outgoing email - you can do things you never imagined!
If you normally use POP email, and don’t know what IMAP is, then it is probably worth paying the modest annual subscription charge for a ‘Full’ account.
Haz