Pharma spam using LinkedIn again

We wrote a couple of times already about spams pretending to come from LinkedIn which advertise online pharmacy websites.

There is a new spam campaign which changed a bit the way the messages are presented to the users.

Now the emails pretend to come from “LinkedIn Co. Technical Support”, “LinkedIn Co. Administration” and from “LinkedIn Reminders”.

All emails use non spoofed email addresses and unique client IP addresses, which is a clear sign that the fraudster have a large botnet at their disposal to send the emails. The even more interesting fact is that almost all the domains which host the SMTP servers are on very dubious hosters, most of them in Russia (or Russian speaking countries). We have seen though also some German domains and IP addresses.

What does this mean, more exactly?

If we see a From email address which is different than the email address specified in the email’s headers, then the sender is spoofed (pretends to be someone it isn’t). In this case, we see exactly the same situation as if someone (real) sends an email address to somebody else – all headers match the textual form of the sender and recipient.

The scary thing is that there are so many unique SMTP servers. Usually, the cybercriminals are paying these servers with stolen credit cards so that they can’t be tracked.

Fortunately, it will take not very long until these domains will be blocked by real time blacklists.

As usual, we advise all our readers to not fall for such scams and delete the emails immediately.

 

 

Sorin Mustaca

IT Security Expert

 

via Avira – TechBlog http://techblog.avira.com/2013/01/18/pharma-spam-using-linkedin-again/en/

© Copyright 2013 Sorin Mustaca, All rights Reserved. Written For: Sorin Mustaca on Cybersecurity

---

Check www.endpoint-cybersecurity.com for seeing the consulting services we offer.

Visit www.itsecuritynews.info for latest security news in English
Besuchen Sie de.itsecuritynews.info für IT Sicherheits News auf Deutsch