iPhone 5 emails infect Windows PCs with malware

Apple’s iPhone 5 is due to be revealed to the world tomorrow, which makes today the perfect opportunity for cybercriminals to take advantage of the excitement and exploit it for their own ends.

Journalist Abram Wagenaar was one of those who has received a malicious email, claiming to be from Apple and giving details of the new “Apple iPhone 5GS”. He posted a screenshot on Twitter of what he found in his inbox.

Clicking on links in the email takes you to some Windows malware (lucky Mac fans are being ignored by the hackers on this occasion) which Sophos detects as Mal/Zapchas-A.

Apple product announcements are always big news. And I think we have to accept that it’s likely that whenever Apple is scheduled to reveal new technology that cybercriminals will try to exploit the interest.

After all, we saw a…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.