Will u be my Spamentine?

Valentine’s day passed by peacefully for young lovers. However, the online world was far from peaceful. The day was used by spammers to launch a spam attack on gullible users. Valentine’s day mails with erotic subject lines did the rounds.

Representatives of Symantec, an internet security firm, said that the adult spam for February stood at 7 per cent. “This year, however, the subject lines were more erotic and geared towards men. Till last year, Valentine spam concentrated on shopping-related subject lines. Now the spammers are focussing on young people as they tend to take more risks,” said Shantanu Ghosh, vice-president, product operations, Symantec India.

A virus that is being spread through Valentine’s Day spam is Waldec. Waldec opens a back door on the compromised computer and in an attempt to steal information, may send spam emails by sending links to copies of itself via email.

Experts say that spammers are now making more such specific attacks than generic ones so as to increase the chances of success. “Earlier, all the spam mail would clutter the inbox but now the attacks are more targeted like the ones on Valentine’s day,” corroborates Ghosh.