Barack Obama and his inauguration are by far the hottest topics in the country right now, so it’s not surprising that a new malicious spam attack is exploiting him. A new wave of spam is underway with headlines proclaiming Obama has changed his mind and turned down the presidency. The messages contain links to a sight that looks very much like the official Obama/Biden campaign site but which is actually a fake that delivers malware. Visitors to the malicious site will find a mix of fake and real news stories, one of which proclaims that Obama released a statement saying he no longer wants to be president. Clicking on the “more” link triggers a malicious download, a Trojan Horse that will turn the recipient’s computer into a zombie and add it to the new Waledec botnet. Waledec sprang up just before Christmas and spread via fake greeting cards. Right now it’s the 9th largest botnet with an estimated 10,000 computers under its control.
This new attack will likely cause that number to sharply rise as users, alarmed by the headline, will click through without thinking. Experts say Waledec is most likely controlled by the same person responsible for the massive Storm botnet which wreaked havoc last year.
Source: http://www.allspammedup.com/2009/01/new-malicious-spam-attack-claims-obama-resigned/