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Greenview Data, Inc., the industry leading provider of SpamStopsHere email security solutions, announced today that over one million bird flu spam email attacks have been blocked in the past 30 days.
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Greenview Data, Inc., the industry leading provider of SpamStopsHere email security solutions, announced today that over one million bird flu spam email attacks have been blocked in the past 30 days.
Ann Arbor, MI, November 21, 2005 – Greenview Data, Inc., the industry leading provider of SpamStopsHere email security solutions, announced today that over one million bird flu spam email attacks have been blocked in the past 30 days.
Spammers are exploiting and capitalizing on fears brought on by the possibility of an avian flu pandemic. Two distinct types of bird flu spam email have been identified: spam containing virus infected attachments (typically masquerading as Word documents containing vital treatment and prevention information) and spam containing links to purchase Tamiflu, the antiviral prescription drug that is most effective at protecting people against the H5N1 strain of avian flu.
As public interest and media coverage of bird flu increases, so does consumer demand for Tamiflu. Spam urging recipients to protect themselves from bird flu by purchasing Tamiflu online has skyrocketed. Spammers are registering hundreds of new web domain names daily for the purpose of sending bird flu related spam.
Roche, the manufacturer of Tamiflu, is aware of the Tamiflu spam campaigns, and is warning consumers not to “panic-buy” their products. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warns of the potential dangers of purchasing pharmaceuticals online, and also stresses that avian flu is not a pandemic and that the risk of it becoming one is low.
“People are jeopardizing their health and possibly even their life by purchasing prescription drugs such as Tamiflu through websites that advertise using spam,” said Ted Green, CEO of SpamStopsHere. “The risk of receiving counterfeit, spoiled, or even toxic medication is extremely high. Tamiflu, along with all other prescription drugs, should only be prescribed by licensed physicians and purchased from trusted and reputable sources.”
Virus writers and hackers are constantly searching for new opportunities and means of distributing viruses and other malicious software via spam. Opening a virus infected email attachment can infect PCs with a Trojan virus, enabling hackers to access infected PCs remotely. Such infections can:
• Cause system or network crashes
• Collect and extract sensitive data to be used for extortion or identity theft
• Act as spammer-controlled email relays, thus perpetuating the spam cycle
Exploiting topical social issues such as bird flu is a common and effective practice used by spammers and cyber-criminals.
"Spammers are registering hundreds of domain names to market and sell bird flu medication," said Mark Adams, Technical Support Director for SpamStopsHere. "At one point we were blocking over 150,000 bird flu related spam emails per day. We expect that as media coverage and public concern increases, the bird flu spam problem will get much worse before it gets better.”
About Greenview Data:
Greenview Data, Inc. has been providing its critically acclaimed SpamStopsHere network security solutions to clients across the globe since 2002. Greenview Data also created and developed the powerful VEDIT™ text editor, which has been licensed to over 150,000 users since 1980. EBCDIC to ASCII conversion makes up the third division of Greenview Data, providing conversion solutions through turn-key contracting and consulting. Through the growth of its SpamStopsHere hosted service, and exciting R&D projects, Greenview Data, Inc. is looking to the future and another successful 25 years. Greenview Data is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
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