Telstra has revealed the addition of almost one million new mobile services in the six months to December 2011, but Sensis revenues plummeted 24 percent in 12 months.
The Storm (aka Peacomm, Dorf, Small and BAI) attack that previously spread under the guise of reports of deaths in the recent European storms is staying topical by sending out emails that may be mistaken for Valentine's Day greetings.
According to Sophos, subject lines currently being used include "You're so Far Away", "I Dream of you", "Old Together", "Dream Date Coupon", "Together You and I", "A Bouquet of Love", "So in Love", "Cuddle Up", and "Vacation Love". Over 180 variations have been seen.
If the attachment is opened, it sends similar emails to addresses found on the computer and downloads code intended to add the PC to a botnet used for sending spam. Symantec's analysis shows that the latest versions of the malware include a rootkit capable of hiding several files and registry keys, although it fails to conceal the ports it uses and has other bugs that can cause crashes.
An infected machine has been observed sending nearly 1800 stock-pumping messages in five minutes before falling quiet. Symantec reports that this Trojan accounts for over a quarter of all the spam being sent around the world in the last month. The company gives it a 3 on its 5-point severity scale as although the potential for damage is high, it is easily contained.
"People must learn to think before they click. It may be tempting to open an attachment which you think is a greeting card or a message from a loved one, but love can get you into trouble sometimes. The best defense is common sense, combined with up-to-date anti-virus software and email filtering at your gateway," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
David Bass
| For the fourth year in a row, IDC has placed content security provider Websense (NASDAQ: WBSN) at the top of the IDC Worldwide Web Security 2011 –…
How to Make Business Discovery Work for Your Business
Business Discovery takes its cues from consumer apps. Like Google, it encourages us- ers to hunt for and explore data without worrying about or even noticing the underly- ing technology. Their entire experience is working within an intuitive interface to get real-time, self-service results with only minimal training. ...more
Try an easy-to-use set of web-enabled
tools for business-class productivity services. Office 365 provides
anywhere-access to email, important documents, contacts, and calendars
on almost any device.