Spammers Attempting To Cash In On Global Epidemic

In the early morning hours we saw a huge surge in image spam. The vast majority of this increase in traffic was from spam aimed to capitalize on global fears of the Swine Flu outbreak. The “Canadian Pharmacy” spam we are all so familiar with is now pedaling Tamiflu, in addition to the usual Viagra. This surge of spam emails has reaching into the millions since just this morning. The emails have varying subject lines.

Some of the Subjects:
· Swine flu- new age pandemic?
· new age pandemic is here
· pig flu pandemia news
· worst pandemic since spanish flu
· nobody is safe from new pandemic
· Real Swine flu protection now available!
· usa and europe is in great danger
· millenium pandemia - defeat it
· real brand swine flu remedy
· pandemic news
· 500 mils died in last pandemic - be prepared!
· worst pandemic since spanish flu!

Here is an example:

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Clicking on the link provided will take you here:

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We have seen a few versions of this in the past month or so but this one is by far the largest and most organized campaign to date. These messages are likely being sent by the Rustock botnet. I myself will probably have to get my Tamiflu elsewhere this epidemic because I do not think the world famous “Canadian Pharmacy” is in my insurance network.