Beware of 4th of July scam emails from Botnets

[Wiz Feinberg]

The Waledac Botnet, successor to the Storm Botnet, is sending out a spam run this weekend, all featuring 4th of July themes and links to view fireworks displays. Instead of seeing fireworks, a bogus YouTube or Flash player is presented, along with a box to download an executable (to view the "video"). This executable is the latest version of the Waledac Botnet Trojan.

Any Windows user who installs that file will cause the computer to become part of the Waledac spam Botnet, unless that user is operating with less than Administrator privileges and does not escalate their privileges when prompted by the installer.

Along the same lines, Happy 4th Of July Y'all! Remember to practice Safe Hex! Delete all unexpected spam, scams and phishing emails without hesitation. Leave the investigating to trained professionals.