Cyber criminals exploiting Thatcher’s death!

Websense Security Labs and the Websense ThreatSeeker Network have detected that attackers are sending malicious email spam with a topic referencing the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, as reported in Hindu Business Line.

Actually, it is not new for an attacker to use a hot topic (like the death of Hugo Chavez) to spread malware - malicious software used or programmed by attackers to disrupt computer operations and gather sensitive information, says an alert issued by the security company Websense

In this case, the lure is simple, with just a few words related to Thatcher, but it pretends to be from friends by using the "Re: Fwd:" notation. Internet-savvy customers will know that it looks suspicious and should not be tempted to click the link in the email.

Websense has warned people about some of the emails that contain subjects such as Fwd: Dollar Bank bankruptcy; Re: Shedding light on 'dark matter'; Re: Why Washington is corrupt and Re: Kissinger: Thatcher's strong beliefs.

In the case of Hugo Chavez, Websense tracked a few email subjects - ‘CIA murdered Venezuela's Hugo Chavez?', ‘CIA "DELETED" Venezuela's Hugo Chavez?' and ‘CIA killed Venezuela's Hugo Chavez' - used in the campaign. Many of these lures tried to increase a user's likelihood to click by adapting the current headlines with some fictional salacious content.