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Spammers are using spyware to launch more sophisticated and targeted attacks, according to email security specialist MessageLabs.
The company claims to have discovered the new technique from analysis of the 50 million emails it scans every day.
Paul Wood, MessageLab's chief information analyst, told vnunet.com: "We began seeing patterns in the emails that seemed specifically targeted at some individuals using familiar names or even passwords and pets' names.
"We suspected something like this might happen, but not just yet. The spammers are always shifting the battle lines and this could be a trial to see how it goes."
MessageLabs said that the perpetrators appear to be using spyware to gather information from PCs which is then used in the subject line of subsequent junk emails to try and persuade targets to open the emails.
"There is no indication of how they are getting the information at the moment. But I would not underestimate the spammers' abilities," said Wood.
"They are well-funded and hooking up with virus writers. Whether they are finding vulnerabilities in current spyware they are exploiting, or developing it themselves, is difficult to say at the moment."
See also:
An increasing number of web users are inadvertently downloading software which can trap ID and password information for online bank accounts. 22 Sep 2004
'No problem' despite warnings on covert gathering of information 02 Sep 2004Technical support lines buckling as users seek help 28 Jun 2004
Anti-Spam Technical Alliance publishes recommendations on best practice 23 Jun 2004'Derisory sanctions' of European e-privacy law has made spam problem worse, warn experts 11 Jun 2004All Hacking
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