Ballots aren’t the only thing Barack Obama is claiming the majority of this week. Just one day after the Democrat’s presidential win, his likeness is popping up on 60 percent of all malware sent across the Internet, one security firm reports.
Post-Election Surge
Sophos says Obama-themed spam attacks have been surging ever since Tuesday night’s victory. One e-mailed message currently being tracked poses as a news alert and offers a link to an official “election results news page.”
Virus En Espanol
A separate threat discovered by Websense operates in a similar fashion: An e-mail appearing to come from a Spanish news organization presents what looks to be an embedded video interview with Obama’s advisors.
Scam Watch
At the same time, analysts are watching for a wave of Internet-based scams related to the collapse of the Icesave bank. The British institution was declared in default last month. Now, the U.K. government has announced plans to e-mail customers with information on how they can claim their money — and plenty of forged and malicious impersonators are expected.
As always, the best line of protection against any of these attacks is to avoid clicking links in e-mails and to delete any suspicious-looking messages without opening them. If you want official information, go directly to the official Web site yourself and avoiding taking any chances.