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"Presidential" spam
October 26, 2009
A technique often used by spammers to attempt to get their messages past spam filters consists of mixing the questionable content they advertise with legitimate text. This type of attack is sometimes called Bayesian poisoning since it is believed to specifically target spam filters that rely on Bayesian classifiers.
An example where this technique is applied is a message I received today:
I stand here today humbled by the task before
<a href=http://www.bawwgt.com>dofus kamas</a>, grateful for the trust you
have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our
<a href=http://www.bawwgt.com>cheap dofus kamas</a>. I thank President
<a href=http://www.bawwgt.com>dofus power leveling</a> for his service to
<a href=http://www.bawwgt.com>buy dofus kamas</a>, as well as the
generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
This message consists of the first few sentences from Barack Obama's
inaugural
address,
where a few words have been substituted with links to the
www.bawwgt.com web site. This web site appears to be in the business
of selling Kamas, the currency used in the MMORPG game Dofus, and,
judging by its graphics, items from other online worlds.
Note that spam messages themed after Obama's inauguration ceremony were used by the Waledac gang to spread its malware back in January this year. If this is a trend, should we expect spam and malware to become one more reason for heated political debates?
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