Obama Wins Malware Elections As Well

Article by George Norman (Cybersecurity Editor)

on 06 Nov 2008

According to Secure Computing, company that specializes in enterprise gateway security, about 70% of the election-related spam messages detected by the previously mentioned company are linked to President Barack Obama. For the third quarter of 2008, Secure Computing has constantly detected Obama-related spam messages circulating on the web.

The amount of “Obama win elections” spam soared just hours after the results of the elections came in. Security software company Sophos issued a warning to all users regarding a spam message that seems to originate from trusted sites (such as BBC or CNN) that will attempt to infect your computer with malware. The spam message invites you to watch a video of Obama conveying his appreciation to the American people who voted for him.

Once you click on the video link you will be automatically redirected to malware spreading site where you will be asked to update your Flash player. Do not be fooled! Your Adobe Flash player does not need updating, it is just a spammer’s way of getting you infected with malware, malware that can be remotely exploited.

The strategy employed by the spammers is a simple one: take a very popular current event and use it as the topic for a spam message. According to Secure Computing, the most popular spam subject lines were “Obama’s private video” and “Obama’s Biggest Mistake Yet”. You are advised to be cautious of any and all unsolicited messages that claim to be reporting the latest news.

McCain may have been beaten in this year’s presidential elections, but there is one area in which he is unsurpassed – that area is pharmaceutical spam. When it comes to spam messages that advertise pharmaceutical products, John McCain can proudly boast that four out of five such emails are related to him.


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