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Bogus E-mails from FDIC Link Computer Users
To Viruses
Newswise — Cyber criminals are using fake
messages claiming to be from the Federal
Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to
deliver a virus capable of stealing
unsuspecting victims’ bank passwords and
other sensitive personal information, says
Gary Warner, the director of research in
computer forensics at the University of
Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).
Warner says the spam is being delivered with
one of two subject lines:
• FDIC
has officially named your bank a failed bank
• You need to check your Bank Deposit
Insurance Coverage
Warner says that once the message is opened the spam asks users to visit
a specific Web site, a link to which is
included in the message. Those that follow
the link are taken to a page that asks them
to click and download a copy of “your
personal FDIC insurance file.”
“Unfortunately, anyone who clicks that
download link will be downloading a version
of the Zeus Bot virus, which has the
capacity to steal bank passwords and other
financial and personal information,” Warner
says.
Warner and his research team in the UAB Spam
Data Mine have been tracking the new spam
for a number of days and report its delivery
volume to be very high.
The spam claims to be from the e-mail
address consumeralerts@fdic.gov, which is a
real e-mail address used by the FDIC, but
has obviously been forged by the malware
distributors in this situation, Warner says.
“The cyber criminals behind this spam have
gone to great lengths to mimic the logos and
look of FDIC communications, including going
so far as to forge an official FDIC e-mail
address in an effort to confuse consumers
into following links and downloading harmful
programs,” Warner says.
“As is the case with any agency or company
e-mail, do not follow links or click
downloads embedded in the messages. Instead,
visit the site in question through your Web
browser and log in as you normally would,”
he says. “If an entity has an important
message for you, you'll be able to find it
on its Web page.
“Legitimate companies will never ask you to
download programs or enter your personal
information via an e-mail.”
Learn
more about the FDIC spam at Warner’s blog:http://garwarner.blogspot.com/.
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