Click to Play SMX: Improving Google Maps... The fact that the average person doesn't go beyond the first page of search results is well known, and when it comes to Google Maps listings, it's important for a... Top Security News Digg This: Malware Makers Target Social Media It seems unlikely a Digg.com user (generally thought of as young and tech savvy) would be fooled by comment spam promising video of "Heath Ledger... Database Hack Shows Predictability Of Passwords A hacked forum reveals once again that people-even tech savvy ones-need to work on their password originality. Keying 123456 just isn't going to cut it, neither is "password," which are two of the most common... ID Thieves Getting Less Money Out Of 10 Million... While the number of American identity theft fraud victims went up about 22 percent last year, the good news is they were taken for less: about $5000 on average. Thursday:02.12.09 Valentine's Day spammers have a serious crush on your inbox this year. Since the beginning of February, the proportion of Valentine's related spam has increased from two percent to nine percent, perhaps the largest volume ever seen, according to MessageLabs. All of those emails-seven billion daily in one case-are coming from the usual botnet suspects. Most (6.5 percent) has been traced back to the Cutwail botnet, though Xarvester pumps out two percent of all spam. Mega-D, the most active botnet, appears to be skipping Valentine's Day this year. Join the Mosso Hosting Cloud. Easy. Powerful. Scalable. Learn More Cutwail's approach is simple, with subject lines reading "St. Valentine's Bonus" or "Make this Valentine's Day the most memorable ever. Messages in the body link to China-based .cn website hocking products one might expect via email around this holiday-a particular method of increasing one's. . .confidence. Themed emails like these were ruled last year by the Storm botnet, and that approach is mirrored with links to sites offering herbal…confidence…and by Storm's successor Waledac, which also links to Waledac malware. "With one in every fifteen spam emails being a Valentine's message from Cutwail, this botnet loves this romantic time of year," said Paul Wood, MessageLabs Intelligence Analyst, Symantec. "Dedicating approximately ninety percent of its output to Valentine-related spam, Cutwail is generating an estimated seven billion spam emails each day. This is possibly the largest volume of Valentine's Day spam even seen." About the Author: Jason is a graduate of the University of Kentucky. He covers business, technology, and security issues. SecurityProNews is brought to you by: SecurityConfig.com NetworkingFiles.com ITmanagementNews.com NetworkNewz.com DatabaseProNews.com SQLProNews.com ITcertificationNews.com SysAdminNews.com LinuxProNews.com WirelessProNews.com About SecurityProNews SecurityProNews is updated in real time with vital internet security alerts, news and in-depth articles for IT Managers. SecurityProNews understands that IT Management Begins With Security. Advertising Newsletters Corporate Info Site Map Support © 2009 SecurityProNews. An email newsletter. , Inc. 2549 Richmond Rd. Lexington KY, 40509 All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy policy. Contact us. SecurityProNews is part of the iEntry Inc. Network of sites and newsletters.