14 DAY TRIAL // Security vendors warn that spam campaigns trying to exploit people's interest into Mother's Day are currently making the rounds and can lead to all sorts of problems.
The upcoming holiday is focused on showing appreciation for mothers and it is customary to do this by giving them flowers, gifts and greeting cards.
Therefore, one of the most common types of spam during this period will be product spam that leads users to sites selling replica items.
"There is a range of product spam, including flowers, watches, gift cards, and diet products. This latest spam campaign involved both dictionary and domain attack techniques, randomizing the URLs in the message body in attempts to bypass filters—all with alluring slogans and catchy photos," said Eric Lin, a security expert at Symantec.
People should be aware that aside from the possibility of not receiving a product, buying from such sites, carries great risks of fraudulent activity on one's credit card.
The personal information provided during the order process can also be used for more targeted spam at later a time.
Security researchers from BitDefender point out that fake greeting card spam is also popular during holidays such as this ones.
Emails purporting to carry Mother's Day e-cards as attachments can distribute dangerous trojans like ZeuS or SpyEye which then steal personal and financial information from the victim's computer.
Users are strongly advised to exercise caution when buying something online because there are also many phishing attacks spoofing well known shopping sites during this period.
Users should always inspect the browser's address bar in order to make sure they are on the correct website and check for the visual security indicators, like the present of SSL. Having a full-featured and up-to-date antivirus program running at all times is also critically important.