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Dirty Bomb Email Uses Geolocation
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2009-03-16
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Security news seems suddenly to be a chronicle of cybercrook innovation. The latest low-down dirty trick is the use of geo-location to personally tailor a disaster news story to the recipient's hometown.
 | | Dirty Bomb Email Uses Geolocation |  |
Sophos researchers picked up on an email spoofing a Reuters report and video template reporting that a "dirty bomb" had killed 12 and wounded 40 in respective users' hometown. The text of the email itself is altered to include the name of a town, as is the text of the webpage to which the link the email leads.
The subject lines are decidedly non-journalistic: "Why did it happen in your city?" "Take Care!" "Are your friends in good health?" It also looks like, for all the technical sophistication and the attention to branding detail by making it look like a Reuters page, the crooks didn't bother with running the message through a spell check.
Some of the text reads this way:
At least 12 people have been killed and more than 40 wounded in a bomb blast near market in Amsterdam. Authorities suggested that the explosion was caused by a "dirty" bomb. Police said the bomb was detonated from close by using electic cables. "It was awful" said the eyewitness about blast that he heard from his shop. "It made the floor shake. So many people were running"
A journalist would notice right away that's not AP style (or Reuters style, for that matter), and a native English speaker will notice that's not great English either. Targeted at recipients in Amsterdam, this may go unnoticed.
Dmitry Samosseiko, at Sophos' Vancouver headquarters, did notice though, or at least his antivirus program did. Dmitry says clicking the video prompts an install of Mal/WaledPak-E, a spyware virus.
About the Author:
SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
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