Beware of 'Opt Out' Trojan Horse
Casino Gambling Blog

« Congress Unlikely to Ban Internet Betting This Year | Main | Tipping Casino Dealers »

November 04, 2004

Beware of 'Opt Out' Trojan Horse
The folowing story was reported by Onlne Poker News:

Recipients of spam email which contains links offering options such as 'click here to opt out of further mail from this sender' are warned against clicking into the link - A new scam means that in some cases activating the link will trigger an attempt to download and install malicious code on the users PC.

Senior antivirus technologist for MessageLabs, Alex Shipp, said "users should already know that it is never a good idea to press the 'click here to remove' link on spam emails as it confirms to spammers that the email address is real".

"This latest spam attack, however, presents a double whammy: it not only opens up the floodgates to endless amounts of spam as the address is sold to other spammers, but it allows a compromised machine to be used to host their next spam run while spammers are busy in the background stealing confidential data"

Annoying as Spam is, the best advice remains to install a good email filter, delete any spam that gets through unread, and never use any of the links in spam messages. Of course, many bulletins from poker sites are flagged as spam by some filters, so use your own judgment as to the senders' integrity.

This is smart advice. Don't gamble with the safety of your computer

Email to a Friend

Display Latest Headlines | | | Read Archives

powered by Movable Type