April 29, 2009
It didnt take scammers long to latch on to the latest hot button
topic to try and make a quick buck. Scams built around fears of swine
flu are proliferating quickly across the Internet.
The U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team issued an alert this week, warning of a number of email scams related to the swine flu. The attacks arrive via an unsolicited email message typically containing a subject line related to the swine flu.
These email messages may contain a link or an attachment. If users click on this link or open the attachment, they may be directed to a phishing website or exposed to malicious code, the alert said.
US-CERT encourages users to take the following measures to protect themselves:
• Filter spam.
• Dont trust unsolicited email.
• Treat email attachments with caution.
• Dont click links in email messages.
• Install antivirus software and keep it up to date.
• Install a personal firewall and keep it up to date.
• Configure your email client for security.
To stay informed about swine flu, US_CERT says you should rely on trusted sources of information, such as the Centers for Disease Control .
Also, be highly skeptical of unknown Web sites with the words swine flu in the domain name.
Online security firm F-Secure reports dozens of new swine flu domain names were registered in the last few days, including swineflurelief.com and swineflureport.com. F-Secure said some of these sites are already offering ways to protect your family from this crazy flu.
