Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water department:
Some computer science and criminal justice students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham discovered that ” a series of fraudulent e-mails that claim to link to video of that speech, but could put a visitor’s personal information in the hands of criminals.”
According to the story, Gary Warner, UAB’s director of research in computer forensics, the spam links to Web sites registered Tuesday in China.
“Visiting the Web site requires the user to install an Adobe Flash Player to watch the speech. Installing it will cause all user IDs and passwords, whether for online banking, online stores, e-mail or even chat programs, to be sent to the criminal’s computer. Adobe Flash Player is a regularly used computer program that has been co-opted by those running the scam.”
“Warner’s students have determined that the person behind the scam is operating out of Ukraine and uses Chinese domain names. The students “have shared that data with appropriate authorities,” according to a UAB press release.”
“The acceptance speech video scam is the latest criminal enterprise uncovered by Warner’s UAB Spam Data Mine. In recent months, Warner has warned of spam e-mails disguised as “work from home” offers, online greeting cards, charity Web sites for Hurricane Gustav and, most notably, news alerts from CNN and MSNBC. “
So suffice it to say that the old mantra still applies: “If you don’t know who it’s from, don’t open it!”