With Valentine’s Day just a couple of days away it is important to be aware that malicious viruses and worms do not take holidays off. The Storm Worm is the most likely candidate to ruin this Hallmark romantic holiday. Not even two months ago the Storm Worm took advantage of the Christmas holiday using various means to infect users. With Valentine’s Day approaching we could see similar tactics used to try to infect users again.

The FBI posted a warning yesterday to their Cyber Investigation E-scam site warning of possible Storm Worm attacks as we approach Valentines Day.

“02/11/08—With the Valentine’s Day holiday approaching, be on the lookout for spam e-mails spreading the Storm Worm malicious software (malware). The e-mail directs the recipient to click on a link to retrieve the electronic greeting card (e-card). Once the user clicks on the link, malware is downloaded to the Internet-connected device and causes it to become infected and part of the Storm Worm botnet. A botnet is a network of compromised machines under the control of a single user. Botnets are typically set up to facilitate criminal activity such as spam e-mail, identity theft, denial of service attacks, and spreading malware to other machines on the Internet.

The Storm Worm virus has capitalized on various holidays in the last year by sending millions of e-mails advertising an e-card link within the text of the spam e-mail. Valentine’s Day has been identified as the next target.

Be wary of any e-mail received from an unknown sender. Do not open any unsolicited e-mail and do not click on any links provided.

If you have received this, or a similar e-mail, please file a complaint at www.ic3.gov.”