FBI E-Mail Scam Spreads Virus
The FBI warned late Tuesday that e-mails appearing to originate from the bureau were spreading a virus via the accompanying attachment.
Source: eWeekThe e-mail informs recipients that they have visited illegal Web sites and asks them to answer a set of attached questions. Opening the attachment will infect computers with the Sober-K worm, a variant that first appeared Monday morning.
"If the public receives an e-mail that purports to come from the FBI, please know that the FBI does not conduct business in this way," said Paul Bresson, a spokesman at FBI headquarters in Washington.
"We would not notify a person that they were a target or a potential target of investigation."
According to senior analyst Gregg Mastoras of U.K.-based security firm Sophos, Sober-K is rapidly spreading across the Internet under a number of different subject lines, including one about Paris Hilton pornography and another from the FBI.
"It's a classic worm, disguising itself and using some sort of teaser to get you to open it," Mastoras said. "I wouldn't be surprised if Sober-K ended up at the top of our security lists before it's all said and done."
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