Cyber-crooks celebrate Independence Day

Malware writers are looking to cash in on the upcoming Fourth of July weekend, security experts have warned.

MX Logic said that the first two weeks of July could be a busy time for malware with the US gearing up to celebrate Independence Day on 4 July and the release of the iPhone scheduled for 11 July.

The company predicted in its monthly threat forecast that both events will be used as bait to lure unsuspecting users.

MX Logic noted that the Storm worm used the Fourth of July celebrations last year to spread itself to new users.

The malware writers behind the botnet often make use of current events and holidays when crafting social engineering attacks, and this year is not expected to be any different.

F-Secure reported a run of Storm spam offering video of a fireworks display. Attempting to watch the 'video' file leads to the download of the Storm Trojan.

If MX Logic's other prediction for July is correct, another attack may be just around the corner. The security firm expects the release of the iPhone 3G on 11 July to be the catalyst for another round of cyber-crime.

"MX Logic expects significant spam, scams and malware campaigns surrounding the highly anticipated 11 July release of Apple's new iPhone," the company said. "Scams will be especially prevalent if supply does not meet demand."

See also:

Malware growth slowing, say experts

Fewer new malware samples being found in the wild  02 Jul 2008

Srizbi beats Storm to botnet crown

Newcomer responsible for 60 billion spam emails a day  30 Jun 2008

Tech giants team up on security

Big names sign up to Icasi project  28 Jun 2008

Storm worm turns to fake news stories

Spam botnet using fabricated events to lure victims  21 Jun 2008

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