Fake security alarm lures users to spoofed site.
A phishing email recently spammed out uses the name of security firm
Sophos
to lend credence to a fake malware alert, designed to trick readers into visiting a spoof site and handing over sensitive login details.
The email, claiming to originate from financial services giant
Merrill Lynch
, discusses a warning from
Sophos
about a trojan attack, referring to malware hidden in
Shockwave
cartoons which was in fact
alerted on
by
Sophos
almost two months ago. It advises customers to log into their accounts so that a service can detect any infection. The link provided leads to a server based in Russia, where user IDs and account details are harvested.
‘Malware posing as warnings about malware is a common social-engineering technique,’ said
John Hawes
, Technical Consultant at Virus Bulletin. ‘Relying on fear to bypass people’s caution responses is almost as common as other lures like sex and greed.
Sophos
‘ corporate focus may give its name added weight to customers of
Merrill Lynch
, but the odd grammar used in the email should make it obvious to recipients that the message is a fake, and hopefully people are starting to learn that following links in emails and handing over important login data is a bad move.’
Details and commentary on the latest scam, from Mary Landesman at
About.com
, are
here
.
Posted on 20 August 2007 by
Virus Bulletin
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