Happy Valentines Day -- here’s your malware.
February 11, 2010
By Andrew Hayter
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Pick a holiday, any holiday, and get ready for targeted, malicious email.  

It starts with a simple email wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day. These sweet wishes are followed by a link that instructs you to click on it to see or hear a message from that special someone.  Click on that link, however, and a Web site pops up that asks you to download a codec or update to Flash, a music player or video viewer.  And of course you download the code because you want to see your card.  Right?  As simple as that, you are infected.  Yes, love can be infectious, but so is malware.

Before opening that email wishing you a Happy Valentine’s Day, make sure you know WHO sent it to you.  Be very, very careful if you have to “click” to receive the message.  Make sure you always use an ICSA Labs Certified Anti-Virus product, and keep your anti-virus updated along with your operating system and browser.  

Happy Valentines Day – say it with roses and a card!
 

Terms: Holiday, Malware, Security, Valentine’s Day, Anti-Virus
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Comments

by ahayter | Wed, 2010-03-31 15:00

All too often

Jennifer,

You are correct in that this happens all too often.

Since there is no license required to "drive" a computer or "surf" the Web out reach programs to users preaching good cybersecurity habits is a must.

Andy

by Anonymous | Mon, 2010-03-29 07:45

all too often

This sort of thing happens all too often. There are usually spikes around the holidays, and nearing Valentine's Day people are obviously more susceptible to poorly considered clicks. The browser can make a pretty big difference as well. That darned MyWebSearch, while not a virus, gives a good indication of the knowledge of the end user and whether they're likely to get infected later on. Some people just don't take enough care. Those fake anti-virus products (like Antivirus 2009 last year and this year) are a really big bother, through. For neweer users, when presented with a mock Explorer-style window pop-up, making the right decision and deciphering what's on the screen can be tough.)

The most important thing, like you mention, Andrew, is to have a decent security product. Thanks for the info about the ICSA Labs certification. I hadn't known about it.

(~Jennifer from the make beats blog.)

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