CNN com is one of the most respected websites when it comes to breaking international news. Unfortunately, some spammers seem to be taking advantage of the CNN name to victimize innocent victims. I opened my email today and found one email with subject "CNN.com Daily Top 10". Here is what the email contains: 
The sender of the email is Harjinder-lkpn@321facets.com and obviously, a company like CNN international would not be using unprofessional emails like this one. I googled for more information about the CNN.com daily top ten email and it is indeed a malware spam. According to one forum, the email actually offers a malware get_flash_update.exe. When downloaded, malwares like viruses can pose security threats to your computer.
As always, email users are advised not to click on any of the links from these suspicious mails, not even the unsubsribe links commonly included in these spam messages.
Related articles from the web:
http://www.dozleng.com/updates/index.php?showtopic=16285
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=18956
Wednesday, August 6, 2008
Beware of the CNN.com daily top ten email
Labels: Internet security, new
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[...] that I have to be aware that CNN Daily Top Ten Email is containing Virus. Upon checking the Website Can Talk Tech by Rhodilee have made a post regarding this [...]
Thanks for posting this. I got this in my inbox today. Luckily, Hotmail marked it as unsafe,??????????????????????????????????
Hi Dan,
It seems popular email service providers like hotmail automatically mark the CNN scam mail as spam. It is helpful to still be cautious though. I had this foolish experience of clicking a link in one of the spam messages that I received.
[...] to this is “CNN.com daily top 10″ (screenshot of email and malware scanner result here)).Don’t click these links.because they may be highly dangerous viruses ,malware ,trojans or [...]
The sender address is most likely not responsible, somehow my main domain email address is being used to send out this thing, I'm trying to understand whether or not I can do anything about it.
You may also find it useful to inform readers that this same email virus/worm propagation is also being received under the guise of 123greetings.com email. Same concept, using a trusted web site's information and email headers.
I have received 8 of these malicious messages since yesterday, 6 of the "CNN" variety and 2 of the "123greetings.com" variety. Though web information is limited, I have read these are connected to the Storm worm. The malicious get_flash_update.exe installs a service, CbEvtSvc.exe, which can be seen by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del on Windows machines and clicking the Processes tab. If you have made the mistake of opening and falling for this email hoax, kill the program CbEvtSvc.exe and remove it from the startup menu. Additionally, Have your firewall block this program from accessing the internet. These are all the instructions I have found available at this time.
This is the 20th time in the last two days I've got the email. Sites it links to have .cn, .es, .ar type extensions and all lead to the get_flash_update.exe which is a virus. The get_flash_update.exe seems to be the rage at the moment with other emails arriving with subjects like * Rupert Murdoch and wife robbed at gunpoint, or * Bush spent $500,000 for daughter's party. I wonder if it's originating from the Pro China/anti western website www.anti-cnn.com?
Just wanted to say my identical dangerous spam email, which I also received today, is from a different sender :
I am not a techie, but I suspected trouble & so I googled the subject line of the email and found your informative site page here.
Thank you for being here and keeping up with these things.
It's a cagy, clever, tricky dangerous spam, as I guess the ones that get around the most are.
The sender I referred to above is job-erasulva@pub5.fz.fj.cn
I just received that spam like 5 minutes ago and clicked on a headline. Luckily when it offered the .exe file download I hit cancel. *whew* I'm a mac user, btw, so I dunno if it would've worked anyway...?
wife mom maniac,
Yes, spammers can hijack other people's email addresses to send out spam. Sometimes, there are also emails such as the MSN featured spam mails that can actually make it appear that the spam comes from the receiver's email.
Shannon,
thank you very much for the information. I will try to research and post something about the 123greetings.com spam emails
Soundbyte,
Honestly, I do not think these emails come from competitors or foes of CNN. The MSN featured email seems to have not come from enemies of MSN.Similarly, the Google adwords phishing email does not also seem to come from yahoo, MSN or other google competitors.
No thanks,
Spammers use different addresses making them difficult to filter and block. Good thing you have not clicked on those deceptive urls. :-)
I unfortunately clicked on the link and downloaded the file. It was a mess. Downloaded some program that kept stating i was infected with things. Found this guide that was able to remove it all:
bleepingcomputer.com/malware-removal/remove-cnn-daily-top-10
[...] Beware of the CNN.com daily top ten email [...]
To remove the CNN daily top ten malware, you can also check out this post: http://cantalktech.com/2008/08/07/remove-get_flash_updateexe-downloaded-from-cnn-daily-top-10-spam/
I suspect you're right Rhodilee, the email probably didn't originate from CNNs competitors or foes. Makes me wonder who is sending this stuff out though. I saw a doco on the 08 olympics a night or two ago that featured anti-cnn.com where they demonstrate some of the skewed reporting at CNN, FOX, and BBC when it comes to China, then got more bogus emails so it got me wondering.
[...] guess, the ecard that I have received belongs to the 123greetings.com spam family that Shannon has mentioned in my CNN daily top ten post. I strongly advice those who receive these types of [...]
[...] Beware of the CNN.com daily top ten email [...]
[...] spammers who have been sending the CNN daily top ten email have not been satisfied in proliferating trojan files through spam messages. They are now utilizing [...]
I no longer wish to receive these email alerts. please unsubscribe me from your list.
Lamar,
Somebody else is sending you those spam messages, NOT ME.
After reading many posts about com spam protection your article gave me the right thoughts i was searching for.
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