Dear Sad Sacks,
While a Valentine’s Day e-card in your e-mail inbox might sound like a glimmer of sunshine in your dreary lives, the FBI is here to stomp on your achy-breaky hearts.
The feds send word that hackers are distributing the notorious Storm Worm via digital Valentine’s cards:
The e-mail directs the recipient to click on a link to retrieve the electronic greeting card (e-card). Once the user clicks on the link, malware is downloaded to the Internet-connected device and causes it to become infected and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised machines under the control of a single user. Botnets are typically set up to facilitate criminal activity such as spam e-mail, identity theft, denial of service attacks, and spreading malware to other machines on the Internet.
The Storm Worm virus has capitalized on various holidays in the last year by sending millions of e-mails advertising an e-card link within the text of the spam e-mail. Valentine’s Day has been identified as the next target.
The FBI adds this always-useful bit of advice:
Be wary of any e-mail received from an unknown sender. Do not open any unsolicited e-mail and do not click on any links provided.
UPDATE: Of course, getting a digital worm in your Valentine e-mail is still better than finding a real worm in your Valentine candy. Blech.
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