brandons bits

Fake Email from the FBI or CIA is Really a Worm
(11/22/2005)
Summary: The newest version of the Sober worm disguises itself as a fake email from the FBI or fake email from the CIA.

Both the FBI and Internet security companies have announced this week that there are a fake email from the FBI and a fake email from the CIA going around which are really being sent by the Sober worm. They include an attachment, which is of course the worm, and so if you get this fake email from the FBI or the CIA, don’t open it!

So far the text of the email seems to be fairly consistent, with the primary variation being whether the email appears to be email from the FBI, or email from the CIA. In both cases, at least so far, it contains the same name of the supposed sender, “Steven Allison”.

The email reads:

“Dear Sir/Madam,

We have logged your IP-address on more than 30 illegal Websites.

Important: Please answer our questions! The list of questions are attached.

Yours faithfully,
Steven Allison
Federal Bureau of Investigation-FBI-
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW , Room 3220
Washington , DC 20535
Phone: (202) 324-30000″

Said Graham Cluely of Sophos, “This variant of the Sober worm may catch out the unwary as they open their email inbox this morning. Every law-abiding citizen wants to help the police with their enquiries, and some will panic that they might be being falsely accused of visiting illegal websites and want click on the unsolicited email attachment. All users should be reminded to follow safe computing guidelines, and PCs should be kept automatically updated with the latest anti-virus protection. Anyone who may have information about the Sober worm’s author should report it to the computer crime authorities. This malware writer has been maliciously attacking innocent computer users for over two years, and must be stopped.�

The FBI has requested that anyone who receives this email report it to the FBI. You can report fake email from the FBI here.

[Internet Patrol]