Santa Brings Spam to Naughty Email Boxes

Santa Clause has changed his modus operandi. He will no longer bring coal to naughty children but - surprisingly enough - spam. Well, let's be fare, Santa has nothing to do with this. But as the Holiday season draws near, security outfit Sophos has issued a public warning informing of a forthcoming holiday-related spam increase.

In this context, Snata Claus is just another example of a social engineering scheme designed to convince users to hand out data of their legitimate email addresses.

"The unsolicited email campaign, which includes subject lines like "Letter From Santa For Your Child" and "Santa Letter from the North Pole", offer a personalized letter addressed to your child. The email, which has been seen in several of our global spam traps, also requests you to get in touch if you received the email in error," stated Sophos.

Offering children direct letters from Santa Claus will deliver sufficient incentive for victims to perform the instructions integrated in the spammed messages.

"This type of spam message preys on parents wanting to give their child something special for the holiday season," said Carole Theriault, senior security consultant for Sophos. "Just like any other time of the year, users need to remain vigilant about spam, even if it seemingly offers something desirable. Rather than confirming your email address to a complete stranger by replying to this unsolicited message, delete the email and consider other ways to make your kids happy this Christmas season."