RE: A new technique to disguise a target URL in spam

["Mason, Seth IFC" <Seth.Mason () UTCFuelCells com>]

I have seen the same technique used in other emails, e.g. Spoofed Ebay
account messages that take you to a fake ebay site.  It is quite common and
will fool a lot of people.

Seth Mason

-----Original Message-----
From: DCISS [mailto:dciss () bigpond net au]
Sent: Sunday, April 04, 2004 8:18 PM
To: Incidents@Security focus
Subject: A new technique to disguise a target URL in spam


This is a new technique I have found to disguise a target URL in spam 
e-mail.  I received an e-mail claiming that I was infected with the 
Netsky.b virus.  It included a valid link to Mcafee.  Hovering the mouse 
over the link shows that it is for "http://www.mcafee.com";.  However I 
was suspicious because the e-mail came from a completely unexpected user 
I had never sent e-mail to.  Using the view source feature (I use 
Netscape), I found that the e-mail contained following interesting piece 
of code:

<FORM action=3dhttp://aicworld=2einfo/anz=2ehtm method=3dget>
<A href=3d"http://www=2emcafee=2ecom";>
<INPUT style=3d"BORDER-RIGHT: 0pt; BORDER-TOP: 0pt; FONT-SIZE: 10pt; 
BORDER-LEFT: 0pt; CURSOR: hand; COLOR: blue; BORDER-BOTTOM: 0pt; 
BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent;
TEXT-DECORATION: underline" type=3dsubmit value=3dhttp://www=2emcafee=2ecom>
</a>
....
</FORM>


(note that the dots in the URLs have been escaped for some reason)

This code creates an invisible form which appears to be a link to a 
reputable antivirus company.  However clicking on the link instead 
brings us to  aicworld.info/anz.htm.  I wasn't going to risk my home 
computer on an unsafe link, and by the time I tried on a work computer, 
the site was down, so I don't know what clicking on the link would have 
downloaded.  Has anybody else seen this techique before, or know what 
was being propagated?


Mark Goldfinch


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Security Linux, the comprehensive security solution that combines six
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