Even before his death, Michael Jackson ranked number ten worldwide on the ignoble list of celebrity names used in spam attacks. While the new numbers aren’t in, he’s obviously going to shoot to the top spot, at least in the short term. I wrote about this last week, but wanted to provide an update, since I came across an article with a fair amount of detail (such as domain and file names used) on the current state of Michael Jackson spam out there. From Enterprise IT Planet, here’s the info: Malware writers, always eager to take advantage of breaking ... more

It’s as inevitable as A-B-C. Easy as 1-2-3. Simple as do-re-mi. So to speak. Michael Jackson’s untimely death has unleashed a flood of spam looking to capitalize upon the intense worldwide interest right now in the self-styled King of Pop. Since his death was truly unexpected, the first wave of this flood was fairly benign, as spam goes. Computer World reports on the early efforts of spammers: Hackers are using Michael Jackson’s death to try and trick people into disclosing personal details, says Sophos. According to the security vendor, less than 24 hours after the death ... more