Criminals Go Spear Phishing Using 'Subpoenas' as Bait
Category: Bugs / VirusPosted: April 15, 2008 10:17AM
Author: Nemo
Spear phishing is a more targeted form of email attack often directed at senior managers or smaller subsets of users. The attacks work by making the email messages more relevant to the target group. One of the latest attacks has apparently netted thousands of fresh victims by sending emails claiming the recipient has been sued in federal court and directs them to a web site in order to access 'official' court documents. Once on the site users are told they must install a browser plug-in in order to view the documents and there you have it - hook, line and sinker. The victim's computer is compromised and the criminals have full access to the machine. Apparently the phish are biting as one company has tracked over 1,800 victims who fell for the ruse. In spite of the URL ending in uscourts.com, the machine hosting the web site is in China and the victims' computers are controlled via a host in Singapore.
