Ask Anita

The Internet Patrol has issued a warning to beware of virus-carrying Valentine e-cards:

Those Valentine greetings that you are receiving, often in the guise of free e Valentine cards, may be sending you more than “Happy Valentines Day” greetings. In fact, they may contain a virus or two. Phony trojan Valentine greetings include subjects such as “Sent with Love”, “Our Love Will Last”, “Our Love is Strong”, “You’re the One”, “A Toast My Love”, “Falling In Love with You”, “Special Romance”, “Your Love Has Opened”, “Heavenly Love”, and “You’re In My Thoughts”.

Security firm Sophos has confirmed that the trojan Valentine greetings are already starting this year.

“It seems the hackers were too impatient to wait for St Valentine’s Day this year before plucking on heart strings in their attempt to infect the unwary,” said Graham Cluley, a senior consultant with Sophos. “People will be truly lovesick if they let the malicious code run on their PC.”

While the initial sentiment in the subject may be sweet, the link in the body of the email is anything but, taking the user not to see the rest of the supposed ecard, but to a computer on the hackers’ botnet which will then infect the user’s computer.

Explains Joel Smith, CTO and co-founder of online security company AppRiver, “Valentine’s Day is a prime time to spread a computer virus because so many people are flattered to receive unexpected cards and greetings. Be aware that many of the senders are after your bank account or your hard drive rather than your heart. If you’re not careful, they’ll break all three.”

“Because this email looks so credible, we expect the infection rate to be very high, perhaps in the millions of systems. It is important that people understand this virus is out there and be careful opening emails from unknown senders,” added AppRiver security analyst, Fred Touchette.

Says Touchette, “The bottom line is this: When in doubt, throw it out.”

Remember: If you receive an e-card from someone you don’t know, or you receive an e-mail offering you free Valentine e-cards, do NOT click on the attachment and delete the e-mail immediately.