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Insights on Data Security & Threat Intelligence

Malware spread via Facebook Chat

Facebook chat messages containing malicious links are being sent from compromised Facebook accounts. The messages are typically sent to all of the compromised user’s friends.  The distribution of the malware includes the following steps Legitimate website is hacked A new folder is created on the hacked site including malware (an

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419 me once, shame on you; 419 me twice, shame on me

Attention, After proper and several investigations and research at Western Union and MoneyGram Office, we found your name in Western Union database amongst those that have sent money through Western Union to Nigeria and this proves that you have truly been swindled by those unscrupulous persons by sending money to

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Kama Sutra Virus – a position you don’t want to get into…

Partner Cyberoam* brought this one to our attention. The kamasutra virus is being transferred in the form of a downloadable PPT/PPS file link. When the “presentation” (actually an exe file) is opened, users are treated to “illustrated” Kama Sutra positions. In the background the malicious code installation is started along

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Portuguese MasterCard Phishing

While Commtouch technology automatically blocks billions of spam and phishing messages from ever reaching customers anywhere in the world, Commtouch staff review samples of the messages to analyze the way social engineering is being used within different cultures. In this recent attack focused on Brazil, credit card customers weren’t threatened

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Spammers return from holiday – levels shoot back up

After one of the quietest spam periods in Commtouch recorded history, spammers are clearly back at work. The quiet period neatly matches the Christmas-New Year holiday season but also seems to add the Russian New Year and Russian Orthodox Christmas (Friday 7th of January). Outbreaks resumed on the 9th. The

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Spam declines 30% in Q4 2010

In October we reported an 18% drop in global spam levels (comparing September and October). This was largely attributed to the closure of Spamit around the end of September. Spamit is the organization allegedly behind a fair percentage of the worlds pharmacy spam. According to reports in October, the reasons

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You’re hired! (as a money laundering mule)

Commtouch’s friends and family aren’t immune to receiving suspect messages. The Commtouch team was recently asked to check out an email that a friend had received. The email offered her a job for which she did not apply.  So what’s the position? – Payment Processing Agent – to help secure

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Commtouch Mail Sort feature to tidy inboxes worldwide!

Last week we announced the release of our latest software version. The release includes a new feature called “Mail Sort” – the idea is that our Anti-Spam product will now flag messages that are legitimate, but mass mailed – like newsletters. Our partners can then offer “priority mail” functionality to

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