Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Alert: Your American Express Statement is now ready to view - American Express On-line Services

I received three emails today with the subject "Your American Express Statement is now ready to view". These are obviously malicious in intent, but what I thought was interesting is the links in each went to three different domains. This isn't just one email but a number of emails with a slight variation.

I decided to check out what would happen by clicking on the link. Please note I don't do this using my computer as I normally would. I set my computer up in a secure manner using a special boot disk (also available to clients) which means my computer won't get infected or changed should I click on anything malicious.

What was then quite concerning is by clicking on the link the site popped up a message to download and update Adobe Flash Player. Checking the file reveals the file contains malware. I don't know if this was a modified version of Flash or just a file which if run would infect the computer. It does open the question in my mind have users downloaded and installed a modified and infected version of Flash. The version was 11.2 whereas the current legitimate version is 11.6.

If you are in doubt remove and reinstall Flash directly from the Adobe site.

If you receive any similar email you should delete it. I suggest that if you do receive an email with a link, don't click on the link, but go to the web site and check the information from their. If you do inadvertently click on a link in an email or a web page and you start getting requests to install something don't. Close your browser just in case.

Kelvin Eldridge
Online Connections
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 for computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.

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