SAN JOSE, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 08/14/08 -- This week's malicious spam malware attack masquerading as a breaking news update from MSNBC.com is just the most recent outbreak of a massive phishing attack impersonating a major online news service.

Similar to the CNN.com phishing outbreak from last week, these new MSNBC phishing messages are identifiable by a very distinct subject line. The emails appeared to be from MSNBC.com and have a subject line that starts with "msnbc.com - BREAKING NEWS:" followed by a fake news headline. Here is a sample of what the phishing attack looks like: http://valleywag.com/5036521/microsoft-acquires-aol-according-to-clever-phishing-scheme.

Abaca investigated the situation and was able to successfully quarantine these fraudulent emails with the Abaca Email Protection Gateway and ReceiverNet Service.

Please advise your readers to not open this message or release it from their quarantine.

Its purpose is to download malware onto their computers. If the email was released from their quarantine, please have them delete it. Warn your users to not click the link.

More information about these attacks:

MSNBC.com BREAKING NEWS Phish
http://garwarner.blogspot.com/2008/08/msnbc-breaking-news-joins-spam-news.html
http://redtape.msnbc.com/2008/08/msnbc-cnn-hit-b.html

CNN.com Top Ten Phish
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9111858
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/149642/fake_cnn_alert_still_spreading_malware.html
http://blog.isc2.org/isc2_blog/2008/08/cnn-phishers-tr.html

So how do you protect yourself?

1. Find out whether your current spam filter has a way to detect phish like these and how it works. If you are not satisfied with what you learn, check out the spam filter from Abaca which operates using recipient reputation and can instantly and reliably detect phish such as these as soon as they are launched, without any human input.

2. Never download any software from a source you do not know.

3. Look for typos and other mistakes in the email.

4. If the email asks you to go to a website, treat it suspiciously. Check out other pages at that website. See if the images on the site belong to the site. You can also use "who is" to determine how long ago the site was created and who controls it.

5. Never trust anything in an unsolicited email from someone you do not know, no matter how legitimate it looks.

When: August 5 to August 14 Abaca Successfully Protects Users from Massive Spam Campaigns Appearing to be from MSNBC.com and CNN.com

Who: Abaca Technology Corporation and the Abaca Email Protection Gateway Appliance with ReceiverNet Service

About Abaca Technology Corporation

Abaca Technology Corporation is an innovator in email protection and messaging security. Abaca's patent-pending technology, ReceiverNet(TM), offers an advanced approach in the fight against spam -- providing unprecedented levels of accuracy and guaranteeing 99 percent spam filtration. Abaca has created a portfolio of innovative products and services based upon this core technology, thereby assuring users unparalleled messaging protection from spam, as well as viruses and phishing attacks. Abaca is a privately held company headquartered in San Jose, California. For more information about Abaca, please visit www.abaca.com.

Where: To learn more about Abaca, visit www.abaca.com.

Abaca®, Email Protection Gateway(TM), Abaca® Email Protection Gateway(TM), ReceiverNet(TM), and the Abaca logos are trademarks of Abaca Technology Corporation and may be registered in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other trademarks shown are the property of their respective owners.

Add to Digg Bookmark with del.icio.us Add to Newsvine