Fake emails targeting Facebook users; 2/3 of viruses go undetected

A new spam attack targeting Facebook users contain viruses that go undetected by many anti-virus programs, according to a UAB researcher.

By: Shannon Delcambre | Alabama's13.com
Published: March 19, 2010

A new spam attack targeting Facebook users contain viruses that go undetected by many anti-virus programs, according to a UAB researcher.
Gary Warner, the University of Alabama at Birmingham director of research in computer forensics, says his team in the UAB Spam Data Mine has been tracking the Facebook spam campaign for the past three days.
Warner says cyber-criminals are using fake e-mails to target Facebook users and deliver computer viruses that were being detected only by one-third of the 42 most common anti-virus products.
“The malware being delivered is called ‘BredoLab.’
It has been occasionally spread by spam since May of 2009,” Warner says.
“The UAB Spam Data Mine has observed at least eight versions of the Facebook BredoLab malware since March 16.
In this new campaign, cyber-criminals are using regular Internet e-mail services to deliver the false Facebook messages to the social media site’s customers.
The spam messages ask recipients to open an attachment in order to obtain new Facebook login information.
Clicking the attachment exposes a user’s computer to the BredoLab malware.
Warner warns that any legitimate company would never ask a customer to update his or her personal account information in an e-mail or through e-mail-embedded links or attachments.

Fake emails targeting Facebook users; 2/3 of viruses go undetected

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