- Reaction score
- 1
- Points
- 410
Have you received an email written in German lately? It's the newest wrinkle in the never ending war on spam.
Except this one isn't trying to sell you language lessons, Viagra, a mortgage or something to lengthen a body part. Instead, it's pedaling hate.
It appears racists have now turned to viruses and spam as a way of spreading their vitriol, with a new worm that arrives in your inbox.
Most of the messages contain links to sites with a neo-Nazi screed. But some also lead you to an area that will download a worm designed to spread the infection to as many other machines as possible.
The disturbing emails come with subject lines in German that read â Å“60 Years of Freedom: Who's Celebrating?â ?, a reference to the 60th anniversary of VE Day.
Another says: â Å“Honourable Actionâ ? and leads surfers to the site of Germany's right-wing nationalist political party.
An English line contains these words: â Å“Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously,â ? a reference to an Allied attack during World War II. And another is equally blatant: "Multicultural = multicriminal," it reads.
And a few warn of the 'dangers' of ethnic and foreign influences emerging in Germany.
The latest bug is a variant of the Sober worm that first appeared on the Internet back in 2003. Analysts admit the tone is disturbing.
â Å“We have seen a trend in which worm authors are using spam not to hawk goods, but as a tool for political propaganda," agrees Scott Chasin, of the anti-virus firm MX Logic.
The program turns infected machines into zombies, replicating itself and sending out more messages to more computers. Experts describe the amount of spam already generated as "staggering."
"We've gotten inundated with reports of small networks getting hammered," warns Scott Fendley of the Internet Storm Center, which tracks such outbreaks.
Your best bet: if you get such an email, delete it immediately and don't click on the links. And keep your anti-virus software updated to avoid the infection.
http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20050517-005/page.asp
May 17, 2005
Except this one isn't trying to sell you language lessons, Viagra, a mortgage or something to lengthen a body part. Instead, it's pedaling hate.
It appears racists have now turned to viruses and spam as a way of spreading their vitriol, with a new worm that arrives in your inbox.
Most of the messages contain links to sites with a neo-Nazi screed. But some also lead you to an area that will download a worm designed to spread the infection to as many other machines as possible.
The disturbing emails come with subject lines in German that read â Å“60 Years of Freedom: Who's Celebrating?â ?, a reference to the 60th anniversary of VE Day.
Another says: â Å“Honourable Actionâ ? and leads surfers to the site of Germany's right-wing nationalist political party.
An English line contains these words: â Å“Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously,â ? a reference to an Allied attack during World War II. And another is equally blatant: "Multicultural = multicriminal," it reads.
And a few warn of the 'dangers' of ethnic and foreign influences emerging in Germany.
The latest bug is a variant of the Sober worm that first appeared on the Internet back in 2003. Analysts admit the tone is disturbing.
â Å“We have seen a trend in which worm authors are using spam not to hawk goods, but as a tool for political propaganda," agrees Scott Chasin, of the anti-virus firm MX Logic.
The program turns infected machines into zombies, replicating itself and sending out more messages to more computers. Experts describe the amount of spam already generated as "staggering."
"We've gotten inundated with reports of small networks getting hammered," warns Scott Fendley of the Internet Storm Center, which tracks such outbreaks.
Your best bet: if you get such an email, delete it immediately and don't click on the links. And keep your anti-virus software updated to avoid the infection.
http://www.pulse24.com/News/Top_Story/20050517-005/page.asp
May 17, 2005
