Shanghai to London – Spammers will be following the crowds

By Greg Day, EMEA Security CTO for Symantec | June 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment

Symantec’s security response team have found that Shanghai World Expo 2010 is the latest major world event to be hijacked by spammers. We’ve been monitoring several different variations of spam that uses World Expo keywords and email subjects to deliver their usual mix of fake promotions, products and services to unsuspecting web users.

With around 70 to 100 million visitors expected to turn up at the World Expo, it’s no surprise that spammers are attempting to take advantage of it. We saw the same thing with Vancouver Olympics, and are observing it right now with the World Cup, and the ticket. And as ticket registration for London 2012 has already begun, the UK could become the next prime target for these scams. To help you avoid the scammers, we’ve put together the following tips.

Do’s

Ensure when signing up to receive mail, that you verify what additional items you are opting into at the same time and de-select the ones you do not want to receive.
Unsubscribe from legitimate mailings that you no longer want to receive and be selective about the websites that you register your e-mail address on.
Avoid clicking on suspicious links in e-mail or IM messages. These may be links to spoofed websites. We suggest typing web addresses directly in to the browser rather than relying upon links within your messages.
You must also make sure you delete any spam you receive. It is worthwhile considering a reputable antispam solution to handle your filtering, such as Symantec’s Brightmail messaging security family of solutions.

Don’ts

Do not open unknown e-mail attachments or spam messages. These attachments are what could potentially infect your computer.
Do not fill out forms with any personal or financial information or passwords. Reputable companies are unlikely to ask for your personal details via e-mail. If you are really unsure, get in touch with the company in question via an independent, trusted mechanism, such as a verified telephone number, or a known Internet address that you type into a new browser window and find out.
Never reply to spam as this could simply result in more spam.

Photo by Flickr user gustible, licensed under CC BY 2.0.

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