Extreme Tech Analysis by Wolf

I got a very interesting email purported to be from the FBI, who say I have not sent my proper remittance to the Ministry of Finance (I didn’t know we had one of those).  Here is the message. Please note that the FBI is using hotmail.  Perhaps this is a cost-cutting measure, or perhaps a security initiative, Microsoft having such a fine reputation for security…

By the way, I do get bombarded with emails from Professor Charles Soludo (mentioned in the message) who has been trying to get me to send $400.  This is very interesting.  The fake FBI is trying to save me from the fake professor.  The FBI banner breaks across the lines because it appears to be in 2 pieces.
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Just a quick idea.

Computer security is a habit.  There are a few things that need to be done consistently, and they are not difficult.  They are also not expensive.

• # Use a password on your computer.  These days, the threats you let in on your computer might be just bad habits your friends have.  You probably don’t distribute your car keys to all the people who come over to a party at your house, and you probably don’t want to allow anybody who comes over access to your personal stuff.  It’s none of their business.  The government has approved the airport search team to look at the content of your computer, if you are going on international flights.  This has obvious security and privacy issues, and if you have sensitive business files on your laptop or your home computer, you want them behind a password.  Unexpected users on your home machine might not be as careful as you are and you might collect spyware and worms from them going to unsafe sites. (more…)
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This phishing email is very creative but not exceedingly believable. I thought it was one of the funniest I had seen for a while. It is an interesting title, however, as it contains an implicit call to action. A good marketer with the right product could do some good with this title. THe phishing contents were a bit of a let-down, as story-lines go.

The Storm Worm loves holidays. Storm Worm is a code name for a particular bot-net. A bot-net is a large group of zombified computers that are 0wned by some shadowy person without the knowledge of the people who actually have the computers. Bot-nets do a few things. What Storm Worm’s 0wners like to do is send out buckets and buckets of spam. These are not all the same kind of message, there are several, but all I want to tell you about is the postcard variants. (more…)

This morning I got what is probably the best-written scam email I have ever gotten.  It reads like a piece out of a William Gibson novel, which is syncronistic because I am currently reading a William Gibson novel, Spook Country.

Here is the email:

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Dear Wolf,

What the heck is this? I get them from time to time, usually delete without reading.

Signed,
Charitably Perplexed
——————————————————————–

Lady Toreth

net> cc:
Subject: Hello
05/30/2007 11:17
PM

From: Lady Toreth Hughes
52 Oxford Street,
England.

Hello Friend,

Here write lady Hughes.I am married to Sir Richard Hughes an
Englishman who is dead,he died in a train bomb blast in spain when he
was going for his medical check up in 2004.Please copy and paste this
Internet link for more information on the incident (more…)