Hijack Alert: Email Confirmation for [name]

These hijack alerts are starting to become as mainstream as the job scams, and I'll probably give up on reporting them in detail soon. In fact, I don't intend to report this one in detail. It's just another email designed to make the recipient go "OMG!! WTF??" and click on the link. At the other end of the link (after your browser silently navigates through a twisty little maze of HTTP redirects and other obfuscation) is the infamous Web Attacker software, which attempts to compromise your computer through various known browser bugs.

The best way to be safe from this attack at the moment is still, "don't use Microsoft Windows -- at least, not for anything Internet related." Seriously, that's the best advice I can offer, unhelpful as it is. Second best is, "use a browser other than Internet Explorer, and don't ever ever click on links in spam, no matter what." The text of today's angst-inducing lie follows for the benefit of those wise enough to search: square brackets indicate redacted text; visit the URLs at your own peril. Note that in this particular case I received a bounce message, meaning that the spammer in question sent this spam using one of my addresses as the "from" address. There's not a lot you can do to prevent this, so why worry about it?

Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 16:59:08 +0200
Subject: Email Confirmation for [name]
Dear [name].

   Thank you for your subscription to http://prismhouse.com/scken4182.html

   You have been billed as KRBILL LLC for the amount of:
   3.95(USD) for 3 days (trial) then 34.95(USD) recurring every 30 days .

   Your new subscription identification number is:573716,

       Your membership access information is:
       Username for your subscription: Skilores
       Password for your subscription: FGyju75u
       E-mail: [name]@[domain]

  Membership website: http://prismhouse.com/scken4182.html

Thank you for choosing KRBill as the eMerchant for your subscription!
Customer Support/Cancel Your Subscription 12/09/2006 16:59