Uniform traffic ticket malware attack widely spammed out

Computer users beware! There’s a new widely spammed-out malware attack, claiming that you have being fined for speeding in New York City.

The email, which claims to come from the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles, poses as a “Uniform Traffic Ticket” and says that you are charged with speeding at 7:25 AM on the 5th July 2011.

The message concludes that you should print out the attached ticket and send it to the court.

Well, stop there right there! Because the attached file (called Ticket-O64-211.zip) contains a malicious Trojan horse, designed to download further malicious code onto your computer and compromise your security.

The truth is that although the email claims to come from an @nyc.gov email address, the details have been forged and the entire attack is designed to trick unsuspecting computer users into opening the attached file.

Sophos anti-virus products detect the malware proactively as…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus 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 security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.