Valentine Trojan onslaught blights inboxes

Have these people no heart?

By John Leyden, 9th February 2009

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Virus authors are attempting to hoodwink unwary and lovestruck internet users with malware that poses as Valentine's Day-related games and email greetings.

The hacker tactic is a familiar companion to annual holidays, such as Christmas, New Year's Day and Valentine's Day. McAfee reports that the Valentine’s Day spam links to URLs pushing the Waledac Trojan, a strain of malware that has copied many of its techniques and features from the infamous Storm Trojan.

Previous incidents of Waledac have included attempts to trick the credulous into running malware via 'Obama quits' spam.

Surfers and sysadmins need to be wary of email with such gooey subject lines as "Deeply in love with you", "I Knew I Loved You" and "I Love Being In Love With You". The body text of the malicious emails varies, but generally includes a heart-shaped graphic followed by a link to a website offering up Windows malware in the guise of loved-up applications.

McAfee reports that one in 40 spam emails contain the word "Valentine", way up on background levels and a possible sign that the annual shower of Valentine's Day-related malware could be much heavier this year. An advisory by net security firm, containing more details and screengrabs, can be found here. ®

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