As dedicated recipients of spam (i.e. email users) may have noticed, a number of messages have been circulating lately, carrying sensational subject lines announcing alarming news about some celebrity, or access to illegitimate information best hidden by garments. The latest is news that Australia's number one he-man, John Howard, has suffered a heart attack. Unfortunately for the political opposition in that remote colony the rumour is false.

The emails pretend to be a link to a news story from The Australian, a daily newspaper, and start as follows:

"SYDNEY, February 18, 2007 08:56pm (AEDT) - The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard have survived a heart attack. Mr Howard, 67 years old, was at Kirribilli House in Sydney, his prime residence, when he was suddenly stricken. Mr Howard was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital where the best surgeons of Australia are struggling for his life."

Recipients of the email are encouraged to click on a link to obtain the latest information on Howard's health. However, this link takes users to a web page which downloads malicious code to their PC, and then displays the real '404 page not found' error page used by The Australian on news.com.au.

The morale of the story is the usual one - do not click on things inside email messages from unknown recipients.

Security company Sophos thought everybody should be reminded again and sent us the story...

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.sophos.com/pressoffice/news/articles/2007/02/howard-attack.html

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