- Dec 30, 2012
- 4,809
Fake notifications from mobile applications
The widespread use of mobile devices has triggered the emergence of email spam targeting smartphone and tablet users. We have already written about mass mailings containing malware for Android-based devices. Currently these programs are not appearing in huge numbers, but they are sent out regularly. In Q1 we saw yet another trend: fake notifications distributed in spam are now imitating messages from mobile applications. Spammers especially like the cross-platform mobile application WhatsApp: notifications sent on behalf of this application were used by spammers to spread both malware and standard adverts.
In January, we registered a mass mailing which supposedly contained an image sent to the recipient via WhatsApp. An alert user would have queried why this notification had arrived via email as the WhatsApp account is not directly associated with the email box. However, many users are used both to synchronization of their contacts and to the fact that messages from mobile applications can arrive via email so this notification would not surprise the majority of users.
Full article
The widespread use of mobile devices has triggered the emergence of email spam targeting smartphone and tablet users. We have already written about mass mailings containing malware for Android-based devices. Currently these programs are not appearing in huge numbers, but they are sent out regularly. In Q1 we saw yet another trend: fake notifications distributed in spam are now imitating messages from mobile applications. Spammers especially like the cross-platform mobile application WhatsApp: notifications sent on behalf of this application were used by spammers to spread both malware and standard adverts.
In January, we registered a mass mailing which supposedly contained an image sent to the recipient via WhatsApp. An alert user would have queried why this notification had arrived via email as the WhatsApp account is not directly associated with the email box. However, many users are used both to synchronization of their contacts and to the fact that messages from mobile applications can arrive via email so this notification would not surprise the majority of users.
Full article
