Cyberoam: Increased Valentine's Day Spam

NEWBURYPORT, Mass. -- Cyberoam, a division of Elitecore Technologies and the leading innovator of Unified Threat Management Plus (UTM+) solutions, today advises that the Cyberoam Internet Threat Response Team warns Internet users of increased spam attacks tied to Valentine’s Day, Thursday, February 14. Spammers are including attachments and links in emails leveraging subject lines such as 'I Love You Soo Much;' 'Inside My Heart;' or 'You… In My Dreams;' ‘My Valentine Sunshine;’ and, ‘Be My Valentine,’ to exploit unsuspecting targets. Once these attachments are opened or the links are clicked, malware is instantly downloaded.

According to Cyberoam partner Commtouch, the Valentine’s Day spam campaigns began mid-January in mid-level volumes and were generated from zombies. The messages are only around 2k, many with hyperlinks to an IP address, an indicator of a zombie-attack.

The success of these attacks depends on social engineering techniques that are targeting a younger demographic, particularly students and teenagers that will use the Internet to buy discounted Valentine’s gifts, flowers and send e-cards. In fact, every day in the U.S. there are at least 11 million teenagers between the ages of 13 and 23 on the Internet – making this demographic group a prime target for attack.

“Spammers are renowned for tying large-scale spam attacks to significant holidays and events, so it’s important for organizations to warn employees and students against opening emails from people you don’t know,” says Joshua Block, VP of North American Operations, Cyberoam. “As these attacks can happen at any time of the year, we strongly recommend that all organizations ensure their security solutions are up to date to recognize and block potentially harmful files. Organizations should also look to set user-based policies for Internet access to ensure that employees and students aren’t able to visit Web sites that could be potentially laden with malware.”

Elitecore Technologies Ltd.