You Stink! Spam - Twenty-Four Seven Security

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June 18, 2008
You Stink! Spam

I haven't covered spam in awhile, or even email security for that matter, even though that's the horse I road in on to this whole tech mosaic, but I just couldn't help but mention this blog I found on the NY Times site about a new form of Rickles Spam.

OK OK, it's not called Rickles Spam, as in the insult comic who I think is still calling people 'hockey puck!' somewhere in Las Vegas, but the idea is that spam is now coming loaded with insults in the subject column. Why, you ask. Because insults get your attention, you idiot (see!).

Come to think of it, maybe spam is tired of being the red-headed step-child of the email inbox, tired of being blamed for all of the email inbox ills, and they've finally decided to seek some professional help, gain some self-confidence, and insult us right back.

The Times reports is that now that spam has pretty much covered all the deadly sins (lust, greed, tax avoidance), what they think will now get a rise out of you is slam spam, or better yet, Rodney Dangerfield spam, which is simply spam that will give you no respect.

So the next evolution in email, which seems to run hand-in-hand with human devolution, is spam telling you you're ugly, or that you stink, or, as Rodney himself would say, "Once when I was lost I saw a policeman and asked him to help me find my parents. I said to him, "Do you think we'll ever find them?" He said, "I don't know kid. There are so many places they can hide."

And when opened, what these emails deliver is a video.exe file that promises a video clip, but in fact contains a link to a site hosting malware that takes over the victims computer. So if you get any email with that says, "You stink," please don't open it...unless it's from your mother (sorry, that was just too easy).