Valentines Day Malware – Beware

The month of February can bring a lot of unwanted e-mail, some from old friends, others from unknown sources. Specifically, “evildoers” use this time to circulate their malicious code via spam e-mail. Some of these messages may include images of hearts and other Valentines related pictures.

In more targeted attacks, attackers may use personal information found online or through recently compromised sources. For instance, the databases of Monster.com and USAJobs.Gov were recently compromised. In their press releases, the information accessed by unauthorized sources included user names, passwords, names, e-mail addresses, and phone numbers. Attackers could use this information to personalize spam e-mail, leading to users clicking on malicious links.

PandaLabs recently reported a new variant of a worm called Saint Valentine. They have numerous URLs that are known distributors of this worm. The list can be found here