Fake DHS emails sent to officials

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Ha! Its times like these that I wonder if I will ever get even a tiny grasp of how the minds of hackers work.

All I can imagine is a group of hackers in a dark room littered with all sorts of wires and gizmos and contemplating about the essence of their existence.

Hacker 1: I’m tired of hacking into big businesses. What do we do now?

Hacker 2: I have a great idea! Why don’t we hack into the computers officials in a defense department?

Hacker 3: Cool! Lets start off by sending fake emails with spyware! 😉

Well, at least that’s what I imagine these guys did when they sent fake emails claiming to be from the Homeland Security Department’s intelligence division.

These were sent to the officials in the Defense Department, and to the state and local officials since June of this year. The emails contain text that are made to look like they are from a department intelligence assessment but are actually embedded with spyware known for stealing banking data and protected passwords.

According to a three-page alert document from the Homeland Security Department’s counterintelligence unit which was obtained by the The Associated Press, the emails actually originated from Internet addresses in Latvia and Russia.

Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20090824/ap_on_hi_te/us_homeland_e_mails