Spam attack exploits US election

Spam emails claiming to contain video reports on the US election as a lure to download malicious software are bombarding computers worldwide.

The malware onslaught has been spotted by security experts at McAfee, who detected a rise in US elections-themed spam since the Super Tuesday primaries, which took place on 15 February 2008.

The spam emails have the subject heading "Hillary Clinton Full Video !!!" and contain the message: "Hillary Clinton visited her campaign headquarters in Virginia and did satellite interviews, looking beyond Tuesday’s trio of contests and touting the importance of a March 4 vote in Ohio".

Clicking the link doesn’t take you to a video showing Clinton on the campaign trail, but redirects your browser to a malicious URL that infects your computer with malware.

The attack is suspected to originate from the notorious Russian Business Network, one of the world’s biggest cybercrime organisations and operators of the infamous Storm botnet.

www.mcafee.com