Avira warns against spam emails with MP3 files

AVIRA
Website: http://www.avira.com

Tettnang, 19 October 2007 – Computer users are confronted with a new spam method: they become the unwilling recipients of emails with attached audio files. Whoever opens them - they can be played with any Windows Media Player - hears advertising messages in English. The mails do not contain a subject or a text. The MP3 files have many different names that appear to refer, for example, to a well-known pop star or important information. The problem with this spam method is that users do not yet know about it and therefore react without suspicion. Spam filters are generally ineffective, but above all the size of the mass MP3 mails places a heavy strain on mailboxes, especially those of businesses. So called “stock spam” has already spread in other file formats, for instance, in the form of image files (PDF).