Much hay was made in the now-mercifully-ended U.S. election campaign (next one starts in January!) about whether the Democrats were soft on homeland security. Regardless of opinion, the President-Elect — congratulations, Sen. Obama — has predictably become an IT security threat.
Websense, Symantec and Sophos Labs reported today on PUSA-related security issues. Websense says its ThreatSeeker Network has detected malicious e-mail promising a link to video interviews with Democratic advisors.
The e-mail links to an executable on a compromised travel Web site. A Trojan drops in a phishing kit on the host computer. Read more details here.
Sophos says that as much as 60 per cent of today’s malware activity is linked to Obama.
Meanwhile, in Symantec’s monthly spam report, the Presidential Gift Card scam is reappearing. Users are asked to complete a survey on the election in exchange for a gift card; the survey harvests personal information.
The report also warns of scams linked to the recent U.S. economic meltdown, the coming Christmas season and the upcoming 2010 FIFA World Cup and 2012 London Olympics. I haven’t got a link to an online version; if anyone can advise, leave a comment.