What is Trojan Spam?

The Storm Trojan first got its name after sending out a spam email in January of 2007 with the subject line reading ‘230 dead as storm batters Europe‘. This email was distributed coinciding with a very real storm event in Europe that caused several fatalities. Obviously, since it was a very hot topic at the time, many people were provoked to open it. Other urgent sounding headlines have been used in the past to spread the Trojan, including ‘British Muslim Genocide‘, ‘Fidel Castro dead‘, ‘Chinese missile shot down by Russian Satellite‘, and many more. Much more recent subject lines used to spread this dangerous Trojan include:

John Mccain Taps Osama Bin Laden As Running Mate
Earthquake in California destroys Schwarzenegger house
Obama caught with pants down
Queen Elizabeth abducted in Tibet
Yankee Stadium demolished
Pope killed by assasin in Vatican City
Angelina Jolie dies in miscarriage
Coral reefs found extinct
New York Yankees team killed in bus crash

As you can see, the subject lines range from vague to just plain absurd. However, they still manage to get the attention of thousands. This tactic is commonly used to spam unsuspecting email users. Once Trojan spam is opened, there is usually a link to a site that will load the Trojan onto the user’s computer, or there is an attachment containing the Trojan in the email itself.

Sometimes the subject lines are a bit less extreme, and therefore are more likely to get the attention of those that know better than to open emails with hard to believe subject lines such as the previous examples. These subject lines will instead be based on some current event or news story, like ‘Cell phone radiation risks uncovered‘. They may also coincide with entertainment news, posing as links to articles about whatever film or television show is popular at the time.

Once an unfortunate user is duped into downloading the Trojan onto their computer, they may very likely become a host for the Trojan. Their computer and internet connection will then be manipulated by the infection to send out similar Trojan spam to everyone that is in their address book. As you can see, this gives Trojan spam incredible potential to spread like wildfire. So, how do you make sure you’re protected from this type of attack?

First and foremost, never open emails from an un-trusted source, no matter what the subject may be. Even if you do, do not download any attachments or follow any links contained within the email. Using your own diligence is your first line of defense against virus attacks.

Second, if you aren’t already, you need to be running an up to date antivirus application. The more elaborate the protection, the better. Some companies like McAfee, Trend Micro, and Norton offer total security suites that offer protection for just about everything the internet can try to throw at you. Even if you do slip up at some point and allow some type of malware such as a Trojan to invade your computer, a quality security utility will immediately detect it and then take the necessary steps to remove it. In some cases, the security software will detect the harmful program before it is even allowed to be saved to your computer. Do your own research and weigh your options when selecting a security solution. You certainly have a lot to choose from.

Tags: hoax, scam, spam, trojan spam, viruses

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 14th, 2008 at 4:15 am and is filed under Information. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.