2012 Internet spam spreading malware

Stephen Withers
Monday, 14 July 2008 08:14

Business IT - Security

Is there an email sitting in your inbox with a subject line predicting the death of the Internet in 2012? If so, beware: the file attached to it probably contains malware.

Security vendors are reporting a wave of spam predicting the death of the Internet in 2012. Not only is the claim bogus (though one that's likely to get the attention of anyone receiving the email), but the PDF file attached to it contains malware (Pidief.A, aka PDFex-A) that disables the Windows firewall and downloads and installs additional malware.

Subject lines include "Secret Plan To Kill Internet By 2012: Leaked?" and "2012: The Year The Internet Ends".

The message body suggests there is some kind of conspiracy afoot that will result in the current open Internet being reduced to a "TV-like" subscription model.

According to Symantec, the bulk (70 percent) of the spam is originating from the US, followed by 9 percent from the UK and 6 percent from Canada.

The spam is quite clever. It taps into concerns over moves away from the principle of net neutrality (which would allow ISPs to deliver fast access to sites operated by their business partners, while slowing links to other sites to a degree that could make them unusable), suggestions that the rate of increase in the amount of video content being downloaded could swamp the available network capacity within a few years, and (in some countries) a tendency for large ISPs to secure exclusive Internet rights to popular content such as major sporting competitions.

But those behind the campaign aren't all that clever - please read on to find out why.