Pump-and-dump MP3 email spam warning

An outbreak of pump-and-dump email spam this week is using bandwidth-sapping MP3 voice file attachments to promote certain stocks.

The MP3 attachments, which range from around 85KB to 147KB in size, feature a poor sound quality audio blast with a barely audible synthetic female voice promoting a specific stock. The voice is heavily distorted to avoid detection by signature-based anti-spam security.

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Email security company Email Systems said it detected a global outbreak of MP3 spam from late evening on 17 October and that it is currently responsible for around 10 per cent of all spam worldwide.

No viruses or Trojans have been detected in any of these attachments yet and Malta-based security company GFI Software has recorded an example of this MP3 spam here.

Most of the emails have no content in the subject line with just "Fwd:" or "Re:" and no message content. The email attachment filename varies from something personal such as "weddingsong.mp3" or a particular music artist such as "bspears.mp3" or "beatles.mp3".

David Vella, product manager for GFI Software, told silicon.com: "We think it is running through zombie botnet hijacked PCs which are sending this type of new spam."

He said the danger for businesses beyond the annoyance factor is bandwidth usage and clogged email inboxes. But Vella doesn't expect this type of spam to become a major threat.

He said: "My feeling is this won't make it to the level that image spam has. I don't think it will be a big problem."