The campaigns use social engineering as a way of suggesting a friend or relative has created an electronic greeting card just for you. The e-mails claim that the card can be viewed just by visiting the link included in the spam message. However, there is nothing heartwarming about this scam. Visiting the link will result in your PC becoming infected by the JSE-card Trojan horse and will expose the computer to further threats.
Interestingly, the malware that hackers are using to try and infect innocent computer users is from the same families of malware used in the waves of Storm Trojan that wreaked havoc on the Internet earlier this year.
"With more than six percent of all spam related to an E-card attack, people should be suspicious of any electronic greeting that arrives in their inbox unexpectedly. The hackers are using the dangling carrot of an e-card to entice recipients into clicking on a dangerous link," said Ron O'Brien, senior security analyst at Sophos. "Maybe it would be better if people used old fashioned letters and stamps to send their good wishes if e-cards are going to increasingly become a method for spreading electronic attacks."
Sophos products have been proactively defending against the Troj/JSE-card-A malware since 29 June 2007, but customers of other vendors' products may need to update their protection.
"Sophos's proactive protection meant that our millions of users won't be infected by this latest attack," explained O'Brien. "Sophos recommends that everyone on the Internet thinks of safety first when they use e-mail, or risk putting their data and finances at risk."
