Symantec Advises Against Sharp Spike in Christmas Related Spam Messages

Symantec Advises Against Sharp Spike in Christmas Related Spam Messages

Symantec has detected Christmas related spam messages entering the Symantec Probe Network. For greeting card spam, spammers used a legitimate look and feel in the email with headers and flash animations that included a message with a "Christmas Card.zip" attachment. Upon opening the attachment, the malicious code is downloaded onto the user's system. Symantec has identified the attachment as W32/AutoRun.BBC!worm.

In addition, other spam messages encourage users to buy the products early to take advantage of bogus offers sent to them. Clicking the URL directs the user to a fake product offer site, for example, a webpage selling fake replica watches, fake pharmaceuticals, just to name two.

Symantec is expecting to see a sharp spike in the volume of Christmas related spam messages in the following days, and is advising everyone to exercise caution when handling unsolicited or unexpected emails related to Christmas. Also, updating antispam signatures regularly can help to prevent personal information from being compromised.

Source: Symantec Blog