Currently undetected virus appears as a response to craigslist ad with link to fake "Picasa" photo album, according to Red Condor

August 15, 2009

2 Min Read

PRESS RELEASE

Rohnert Park, Calif. " August 13, 2009 " Email security experts at Red Condor are warning email users about a new virus currently undetected by most virus scanners. The virus is embedded in an email that appears to be a response to a craigslist advertisement. The email containing the virus, which was detected August 12, 2009 by Red Condor's Zero Minute Defense Network, includes the subject line, "Re: Car For Sale on craigslist." The email content suggests that the user requested pictures for a car being sold on craigslist and invites the recipient to view the images in a Picasa album. Clicking on the link to the album installs a virus.

"Only 13 out of 41 virus scanners detected the file as a virus when Red Condor first identified it," stated Dr. Tom Steding, chief executive officer of Red Condor. "This means that if the message was delivered and a user clicked on the link, they'd likely be infected even if they had an anti-virus program running on their desktop computer. With increasingly more ways to get malicious content onto computers and corporate networks, it is important that companies' security solutions are capable of responding quickly and appropriately to eliminate potential threats. Traditional signature-based virus engines are simply not enough protection against today's spammers and cybercriminals. After all, it only takes one click."

The virus scam was detected by Red Condor's proprietary Spam Trip Wire technology. Red Condor scanned the virus payload through VirusTotal.com, and also Jotti, and the email virus was unrecognized by more than two-thirds of commercial virus scanners.

Spam Trip Wire identifies spam and virus campaigns before they penetrate users' networks. Suspicious campaigns are put on probation until a filter rule can be written to capture messages from the campaign. During the probationary period, messages from the suspicious campaign are quarantined. Red Condor charts the number of malicious campaigns identified by Spam Trip Wire through its online Threat Center at RedCondor.com.

About Red Condor Red Condor is revolutionizing spam fighting with its next generation technology. Red Condor's highly accurate email filter, hybrid architecture Vx Technology, and fully managed appliances lead to a dramatic reduction in the cost of owning a premium spam filter. With solutions for small business, as well as ISPs with millions of email inboxes, Red Condor has a cost-effective, timesaving solution that is rapidly gaining market share. The system's design has built-in zero tolerance for lost email, and a near zero false positive rate while achieving long-term spam block rates greater than 99%. This next-generation technology is backed by a 24x7 customer care center staffed by email security experts at Red Condor's headquarters. For more information, visit www.redcondor.com.

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