11/06/2008

This is the subject of a new spam/malware outbreak. The attackers wasted no time on this virus flood. The election ended November 4 at 11 PM EST. This "headline spam" attack started on our servers the next day. I am sure a "McCain" attack was also queued up in case he won. The spammers are probably agnostic on the topic of American politics. They only wanted any famous person for the headline.

The virus poses as an "upgrade" to your flash player needed to look at Obama's speech. It is a Trojan horse which spreads more Malware. The emails do not actually contain the virus but they are still caught by SpamSentinel as Spam-D, our category for the worst offenders. Here is a sampling of the subjects taken from the spam quarantine on one of our Domino inbound SMTP mail gateways. Incorrect punctuation was left as I found it:

World Welcomes Obama's Win Obama Win Defined by Race Obama Wouldnt Be First Black President Barack Obama wins Obama win sets stage for showdown Obama win preferred in world poll New president's Obama win an Electoral College majority USA Election Results Election 2008: Time lapse of U.S. counties A new president, a new congress ... Priorities for the New President Will American Voters Elect a Black President Election Night Results Priorities for the New President - TIME

All messages, regardless of the subject, had the same body:

Barack Obama Elected 44th President of United States Barack Obama, unknown to most Americans just four years ago, will become the 44th president and the first African-American president of the United States. Watch His amazing speech at November 5! Proceed to the election results news page>> (link removed) 2008 American Government Official Website This site delivers information about current U.S. Foreign policy and about American life and culture.

Clicking the link brings you to a fake copy of the America.gov website. Notice the site attempts to download the software automatically:



It then invites you to see an Obama speech, but first you need to upgrade your Flash player, which is when the Malware is installed. We received and blocked over 5,000 of these messages in one day. This is one computer "upgrade" that is a major downgrade!