Our colleagues at Bitdefender France have started an interesting series of articles to reveal what apparently innocent e-mails may hide behind the lines, links or attachments. We decided to share their tips and tricks on how to avoid the online threats spreading in our inboxes. We’ve said it over and over: nobody should open attachments or click links from unknown senders. Curiosity may lead you to the wron...

A campaign that takes advantage of vulnerabilities on the CNN website is flooding Twitter users with diet spam, according to eHackingNews. Cyber-criminals exploit the open redirect flaw to post spam messages that look like they're coming from the reputable news organization. “The diet porgram you told us about yesterday is soo good!”, spammers tweeted, then redirected users to a malicious website. “I love m...

A new spear phishing attack targeting executives claims victims in English-speaking countries by appealing to their vanity. The “Top 100 Executives” scam was resurrected by cyber-criminals, who are contacting directors to inform them that their biography was selected for a prestigious magazine. All the ingredients of a well-crafted phishing attack are present: appeal to vanity and a sense of urgency, which ...

A recent spam campaign abuses the world’s largest online retailer, Amazon.com, to promise a 55” TV set but instead direct users to a malware-laden page and infect them with a notorious exploit kit. Bitdefender Antispam Lab came across an increasing number of such e-mails crafted to look like Amazon order confirmations. The fake notifications, which appear to confirm the order of 55” TVs associated with bran...

A recent wave of malware-laden spam e-mails infects recipients with the Gamarue Trojan. The malware is delivered as an attachment disguised as an on-line train ticket reservation at Deutsche Bahn, the German passenger transportation and logistics company. The dangerous messages inform receivers of a successful on-line ticket reservation at Deutsche Bahn (German Railways) and politely ask them to print the a...

A new wave of malicious FedEx spam delivers Trojans instead of packages, infecting users with malware when opening the attachments. In the last couple months, the Gamarue Trojan has spread intensely in the US, Australia, Croatia, Romania, Iran, the UK, Germany and Spain. “This tracking update has been requested and attached to this email,” the malicious message reads. “Reference information includes: Invoic...

New spammed malware campaign aims at Citibank Paymentech clients to collect passwords and open backdoors for remote attackers to dispose of compromised systems at will. This new campaign consists of random e-mails allegedly sent by a Citibank billing department. The electronic messages deliver as attachment an archived document hiding an executable malicious file. In the body of the message, scammers ask re...

The Bitdefender anti-spam lab identified a significant spam wave selling “patriots only” a complete survival kit to help them face the “imminent” apocalypse. For just a little under $50, the DVD-guide promises to assist every American family to prepare for the end of the world. It’s been almost a week of on and off President Obama-related scam campaigns aiming for a context of uncertainty and insecurity amo...

A wave of Russian dating spam drags users to a dangerous website loaded with Javascript malware. The Bitdefender Labs discovered an increasing number of e-mails designed to play on users’ virility to spread to inboxes worldwide. The Russian girls’ messages are straightforward and efficient, prompting users to respond fast to the bait. “Let’s act on our feelings and get to know one another,” one of the infec...

“Hello mom. I know I haven’t called you in a while, but here I was, at the office, and got an e-mail with a major discount for Mother’s Day. When can I stop by to drop off the public toilet survival kit I got for you?” If you find yourself having this implausible conversation with your mom, check your inbox – you’re probably infected with the latest Mother’s day spam. Scammers mostly pull out the same old t...