Cybercriminals Target Parkers, Lovers and Jobless

Yellow fliers on vehicles in a parking lot. It's not your typical phishing scam, but cybercriminals are getting more creative in a down economy.

The fliers sit atop windshields and claim the vehicle is in violation of parking regulations. The fake pamphlet points the vehicle's owner to a Web site to get more information and pictures about the offense.

When the vehicle owner logs onto the Web site listed in the flier, he sees images of cars in area parking lots and is asked to download a toolbar that claims to let him search for pictures of his vehicle. Instead, the toolbar downloads malicious files that continue to download more malware.

Merging Physical and Virtual Attacks

According to the SANS Internet Storm Center, the fliers appeared on cars in Grand Forks, N.D. SANS security consultant Lenny Zeltser said the initial program installed itself as a Browser Helper Object for Internet Explorer, downloaded a component, and attempted to trick the victim into installing a fake antivirus scanner.

"Attackers continue to come up with creative ways of tricking potential victims into installing malicious software," Zeltser said. "Merging physical and virtual worlds via objects that point to Web sites is one way to do this. I imagine we'll be seeing such approaches more often."

While people in North Dakota are getting hit with unusual scam tactics, Internet users all over the world are starting to see the familiar Valentine's Day spam subject lines that tap into loneliness, as well as e-mails that tap into the need for economic relief.

Indeed, as President Barack Obama focuses on an economic stimulus package, spammers are also working on their own unique version of a "stimulus package," according to Dermot Harnett, an antispam engineering analyst at Symantec.

IRS and Grants

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