iPhone Hype Encourages Online Spam
The hype surrounding the launch of Apple's iPhone has spawned a new breed of spam that aims to dupe people into thinking that they have won the new iPhone. The spam emails or pop-ups may also offer a link to a bogus website, iphone.com, that gives away the devices at a cost much lower than the MRP.
According to web security firm, Secure Computing, the spammers are possibly just looking for thrills and kudos than monetary profit. The firm says the cyber criminals behind this scam are using sophisticated techniques to thwart security firms. For example, the Web site is loaded with more than 10 pieces of malicious code, each, targeting potential browser vulnerability. Also, users who attempt to visit the site more than once are redirected to another, 'safe' web site.
Secure Computing has warned web users not to fall prey to the socially engineered e-mails that contain a link which, if clicked on, will connect to a Web site and install malicious software, designed to take control of the victim's computer. The Trojan, which has not yet been named by antivirus vendors, produces a pop-up when users on infected Windows PCs head to either yahoo.com or google.com. The pop-ups tout iPhone.com as 'the only place to buy iPhone', and use the Apple logo and the actual price ($499) of the 4GB model to add weight to the offer.
