Spammers strike back

After lying low for a while, spammers are back in action. This time they are using PDF files and electronic greeting cards to infect computers and confound anti-virus programmes. In the last few weeks, security firm Postini blocked about 800 million copies of Storm, a virus pretending to be a greeting card. Those who click the link will reach a site booby trapped with malware. Spam in the PDF mode has also increased since May and now forms about eight per cent of all unsolicited mails. Spammers are also using Excel and Zip files now. “People are more likely to open a PDF file or Excel document, since they are more trusted,” says Tom Gills, a security researcher. Spammers are also using popular online appl-ications like Google news alerts to pop ads on sex toys.