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By George Rose, IT ManagerInformation Systems

Spamers and Phishers take Advantage of Swine Flu

Typical of any such crises, whether its the aftermath of an event such as an earthquake, or in this case, the swine flu, phishers and spammers are taking advantage of the situation.

Symantec and McAfee are reporting on spam that seems designed to simply gather email addresses and phone numbers from unwary Internet users.

One example contains a subject line that says "Suspected Mexican flu toll hits 81." It asks recipients if they are located in Mexico or the U.S. and if they know anyone affected by the flu. Recipients are also asked to provide personal information, either by going to a Web site and filling out a form or by replying to the e-mail with their e-mail address, mailing address, and phone number.

These sorts of scams are inevitable when something like this comes around. People panic, and the Internet, which has become a major source of information for anything and everything, is a perfect way for spammers and scammers to phish, spam, or even distribute malware.

As always, exercise caution. You can also check out this online game, Anti-Fishing Phil, that teaches people how to spot phishing sites. Anti-Phishing Phil is an interactive game that teaches users how to identify phishing URLs, where to look for cues in web browsers, and how to use search engines to find legitimate sites.

The game can be found at http://technologyexpert.blogspot.com/2007/09/anti-phishing-online-game-developed-by.html. 

Be careful out there!