F-Secure Spoofed with Bogus Mail

Security company F-Secure was the target of a malicious mail apparently designed to give the company a black eye.

By  Michael Hall | Feb 3, 2006
Print ArticleEmail Article
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn

Security company F-Secure was the target of a bogus mail campaign designed to spread malware by luring recipients into opening a bogus screen shot.

Thousands of infected e-mails were sent out on Wednesday, purporting to be from a non-existent F-Secure employee. According to the company, addresses used included press@f-secure.com, info@f-secure.com and editor@f-secure.com. All the mails indicated they were from "David Adams, Dept. Research, F-Secure Development."

In the mail, the fictitious Mr. Adams claimed that he'd found browser incompatibilities while viewing the recipient's site using the open source Mozilla browser.

"I have enclosed a screen capture of the problem so your team can get it fixed if you deem it an issue," read the message.

The attached file, however, contained a variant of the Breplibot worm.

The company said it has taken steps to notify users of the attack.

A sample of the message follows.

From: Mr D Adams <david.adams@f-secure.com>
Subject: Website Browsing Problem

Hello,

I noticed whilst browsing your site that there were problems with
some of your links, when I tried again with Internet Explorer the
problems were not there so I assume that they were caused by me
using the Mozilla browser.

As more people are turning to alternative browsers now it may be
of help for you to know this. I have enclosed a screen capture of
the problem so your team can get it fixed if you deem it an
issue.

Kind regards,

David Adams
Dept. Research
F-Secure Development
The company reported that it has no indication of who originated the message.

Comment and Contribute
(Maximum characters: 1200). You have
characters left.
Get the Latest Scoop with Enterprise Networking Planet Newsletter
Helpful Links
  • Yankee Group Mobile WAN Optimization Report

    Mobile work continues to evolve. Your organization must keep up with the demands of its mobile workforce. This report introduces the concept of mobile WAN optimization and provides three case studies including RCM, PRTM and Einstein that highlight how this emerging technology can help IT departments achieve what previously appeared to be conflicting goals. Read >

  • Network Security Resources

    More threats than ever before pose a danger to today's enterprise network. Get the latest tips and intel on the newest risks in our guide to network security resources. Read >

  • Extreme Savings: Cutting Costs with WAN Optimization

    Did you know it's possible to cut IT costs without impacting day-to-day IT operations? In fact, when you download this whitepaper from Riverbed on cost-savings through WAN optimization, you'll discover how businesses of all different sizes have realized a return on investment in just a few months through significant hard cost savings in areas such as bandwidth reduction and IT consolidation. It's called Extreme Savings and its only from Riverbed. Read >