“Private Detective” Spam Floods Inboxes with Malware Threat

November 23, 2007; 07:18 AM

NEWBURYPORT, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cyberoam, a division of Elitecore and the leading innovator of identity-based Unified Threat Management solutions, today announced that a new email-borne malware threat has emerged, where messages claim to be from a private detective hired to monitor the email recipient. According to Cyberoam partner Commtouch, the outbreak was first identified on Saturday, November 17^th and sample subject lines include, “I'm monitoring you”; “You’re being watched”; “Your phone is monitored”; and, “The tape of your conversation”.

The malware distributors have attached a “recording” of the recipient's phone call in an effort to convince the recipient of their surveillance capabilities, which is actually an executable .scr malware file. The attachment names are numerical variations on “call1105-10.rar.” and are password-protected, compressed files. The malware inside the attachment is activated when the recipient opens the file with the password provided in the body of the email.

“These techniques indicate the malware author's ability to successfully launch new variants of malware on the Internet, which is why signature-less protection against these types of attacks is critical,” said Joshua Block, VP of North American Operations, Cyberoam. “Traditional signature-based protection methods are unable to provide zero-hour protection. Cyberoam’s unique identity-based UTM appliances provide organizations of all sizes with a proactive virus detection technology that protects against spam and new email-borne virus outbreaks hours before signatures are released and updated in signature-based solutions.”

Commtouch research shows that global spam levels recently reached an all-time high of 95 percent, increasing a spammer or virus author’s ability to launch a successful attack. To help combat this, Cyberoam’s fully integrated gateway antivirus and anti-spam engines provide reliable web and e-mail security at the gateway for enterprises. The powerful gateway antivirus solution from Cyberoam supports business flexibility and prevents Internet threats like worms, viruses and malicious programs from entering networks. In addition, Cyberoam goes beyond relying on signatures and email content to flag potential threats, enabling the solution to detect spam in any language and in every message format, non-English characters, single and double byte, etc. Its language and content agnostic nature provides customers with effective spam blocking from image-based and all other types of spam.

To learn more about Cyberoam’s unique identity-based UTM solutions, please contact Rebecca Paquette at [email protected], or visit www.cyberoam.com.

About Cyberoam

Cyberoam, a division of Elitecore, is a leading innovator of identity-based Unified Threat Management appliances offering a comprehensive range of security features, including identity-based firewall, VPN, gateway antivirus, gateway anti-spam, intrusion detection and prevention, content filtering, as well as bandwidth management and multiple link management – all over a single platform. Cyberoam offers robust Internet security to corporations, educational institutions and government organizations worldwide, and its solutions are certified by the ICSA Labs, an independent division of Verizon Business, and the Virtual Private Network Consortium. Cyberoam’s solutions have also received the 2007 Global Excellence Awards for Integrated Security Appliance, Security Solution for Education and Unified Security, and the 2007 Tomorrow’s Technology Today Award for Unified Security. Cyberoam has offices in the Newburyport, MA and India. For more information, please visit www.cyberoam.com.

About Elitecore Technologies

Elitecore Technologies Limited is a leading provider of convergent billing, provisioning and customer acquisition solutions, and Unified Threat Management Solutions. Elitecore’s divisions include Crestel, meeting the voice, data, video billing and customer care requirements of tier-one service providers; and Cyberoam, the leading innovator of identity-based UTM solutions that offers integrated Internet security with fine granularity through unique user identity-based policies. Elitecore was established in 1999 by Eclipse Micro Computer Inc., and possesses a strong R&D base and support center based in India, allowing the Company to sustain a healthy growth rate of more than 75 percent since inception. For more information, please visit www.elitecore.com.