Spam Soap Messaging

Threat Alert Summary

Spam Soap has issued a Threat Alert based on an overwhelming volume of spam messages, which claim to be from the MSNBC news website. This is a new strain that has morphed from the previously reported CNN spam.

Threat Details

The Threat Operations Center began tracking and blocking millions of these CNN spam messages per hour with the subject line reading “CNN .com Daily Top 10” beginning August 4th 2008. Spam messages started flowing in with an altered subject line that read “CNN Alerts: My Custom Alert.” At its peak, volume reached over 11 millions messages per hour. Currently, the Threat Operations Center is detecting and blocking a new strain of the CNN spam that claims to be from MSNBC.

The new spam variant will likely mimic the behavior of the fake CNN news notifications. With the CNN spam, unwitting recipients who clicked on the message were essentially ‘forced’ to download a destructive version of Flash Player software. The new MSNBC strain is forecasted to operate similarly. To read a report on this spam variant go to http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/08/msnbc-cnn-hit-b.html.

Spam Soap Response

The Spam Soap Threat Operations Center is filtering and stripping these messages for every customer before they ever reach the customers’ network. In most cases, customers will never see the message enter their inbox or reach their quarantine. If you do happen to receive such a message in your inbox, it is vital you do not click on the link. Instead report it to the threat team using the Sender Tool for Outlook, or delete it without opening it.

The Threat Center continues to monitor the flow of the CNN and MSNBC spam – removing this massive volume before it reaches our customers’ network.