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When was
the last time you went fishing? Perhaps you went out on a lake in the beautiful
Pacific
Northwest?
Closing my eyes I can visualize the crystal clear glacier lake, the blue sky,
and the majestic mountain range outlining the surroundings. I can almost feel
the fish taking my bait. What a feeling. I really should get out more. Although
fishing in the Pacific Northwest sounds like a good dream, the Phishing was quite good in Australia yesterday when hackers released an
email stating that Australian Prime Minister, John Howard, had suffered a heart
attack and is fighting for his life in a hospital.
The email
contains an attachment which is a trojan. Once installed on a system, it sets
up a web server that can transmit specific data to other locations – thus
causing the data to become used for malicious purposes. Apparently, over 700
bank accounts have been compromised throughout Australia as a result of the malware.
Below is a
sample email of what has been circling the globe:
----
Subject: John Howard Tragedy
From: <
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
>
Latest BBC News: John Howard was
killed by Israeli soldier, Lyvian
terrorist.
The Prime Minister Hon John Winston
Howard
Born: 6 May 1953
KILLED: 16 August
2006
Biography
The Hon John Winston Howard was
sworn in as Prime Minister of
Australia on 11 March
1996,
becoming the 25th person to occupy the
office of Prime Minister since
Federation. This followed the
Coalition's decisive Federal
election
victory on 2 March
1996.
...
[a lengthy biography follows which
appears to have been taken from
http://www.pm.gov.au/your_pm/biography.html]
---
The email contains a zip file
attachment containing two files:
howard01.gif - a non-malicious
picture of Australian Prime Minister
John Howard
howard02.pif - a malicious
executable file
This scam
is not only a threat to Australians, but Europeans and Americans alike. Be on a
watch for this email or any other email that targets government officials –
don’t open them. If you believe you’ve already received this email, or one like
it, you may want to scan your system with updated security software – just to
be on the safe side.
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