Swine flu scareUS-CERT warns of swine flu-related phishing scams
The swine flu outbreak is about two weeks old, but criminals are already e-mailing millions of phishing e-mails which purport to offer the latest information about the disease
Talk about adding insult to injury. US-CERT, the U.S. cybersecurity watchdog, said it was aware of public reports of e-mail scams circulating related to the swine flu (see McAfee Alert Labs Blog). The attacks arrive via an unsolicited e-mail message typically containing a subject line related to the swine flu. These e-mail 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 Web site or exposed to malicious code.
US-CERT encourages users to take the following measures to protect themselves:
Do not follow unsolicited Web links or attachments in e-mail messages
Maintain up-to-date antivirus software
Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding E-mail Scams document for more information on avoiding e-mail scams
Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks
Update
Owing to these potential phishing attacks and e-mail scams, US-CERT encourages users to visit the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Web site for trusted information regarding the swine flu.
