Spammers turn to MP3s to deliver pitches

Associated Press 22/10/2007
Website: http://www.ap.org

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Spam is now being served in audio form.

The latest in unwanted electronic communication is an MP3 file that began landing in inboxes around the world last week. It features a spooky, synthesized Darth-Vader-sounding female voice touting the stock of Exit Only Inc., traded on the lower-standard Pink Sheets.

"Hello, this is an investor alert!" the halting, at times unintelligible voice says. Her pitch invokes the growth prospects of Exit Only, a Web site operator that runs Text4Cars.com, which links auto buyers and sellers via text messages.

Computer security researchers say the audio blasts — MP3 files with misleading names attached to spam e-mails — reflect spammers' need to slip their messages through increasingly sophisticated e-mail filters.

The MP3s masquerade as cell phone ringtones or carry names like "bartsimpson.mp3" and "justintimberlake.mp3," said Keith Crosley, director of market development for Proofpoint Inc., which sells e-mail security software and hardware.

Spammer have had to change tactics as the filters have gotten smarter at blocking traditional text-based spam, spam sent as image attachments — such as GIFs or JPEGs — and even the latest rage, spam hidden inside attachments created with Adobe Systems Inc.'s ubiquitous Portable Document Format, or PDF.

Santa Monica, Calif.-based Exit Only said the e-mails are being sent by someone trying to pump up the company's stock before dumping it.

"It's very disheartening," said Exit Only Chief Executive David Dion. "I have enough to do on a daily basis trying to run Text4Cars. I really don't need this."

The company hired investigators to trace the origin of the e-mails, which appear to be coming from "ghost servers" in Russia, Dion said.

"Someone is trying to manipulate my stock for some kind of gain," he said. "What I can say is they have been very unsuccessful so far."

Just $2,500 worth of stock was traded in the two days after the messages appeared, and the stock price remained even, he said.

This new form of spam can be difficult to detect because each one is slightly different from the last, Crosley said.

"This new form of spam shows a new level of sophistication for spammers and the power of the botnets," Crosley said, referring to networks of hijacked computers that are linked together without their owners' knowledge and turned into spam-sending machines.