MessageLabs: Video file spam coming soon in 2008

According to the MessageLabs 2008 security predictions released today, 2008 is predicted to be another year of significant growth as e-crime tools become more accessible and the market becomes more mature and open.

“2007 was the year of prolific cyber-crime with certain gangs becoming famous within the security industry. Notoriety within a hot market always encourages an influx of new players wanting their slice of success and thus, the threat market is set to be even hotter in 2008,” said Mark Sunner, chief security analyst at MessageLabs.

Targeted attacks will increase in sophistication and malicious video file attachments will replace the unsuccussful use of MP3 file attachments.

"Targeted attacks will be the biggest impact and most serious in 2008," said Philip Routley, product marketing manager A/NZ at MessageLabs. "People don’t know they’re infected and the information extracted by targeted attacks is quite extensive."

He added: Video spam will also be widespread as sites like YouTube have allowed wide usage of video formats, the infrastructure is now there for spammers to spray users."

Other areas of concern, include the large Storm Worm botnet. MessageLabs predicts the Bot will have a continued impact throughout 2008 and is also concerned about copycat acts.

Furthermore, Instant Messenger (IM) spam referred to as spIMming will make some noise in 2008. Despite 2006 predictions that spIMming was to evolve in 2007, the threat is now expected to develop in 2008.

“It’s a numbers game, they [spammers] would have had tested IM this year in small volumes but they obviously got more success through email than IM so it’s a ‘watch this space’ scenario,” Routley said.

He added that users can expect to see traditional spam methods continue. "They can still send large volumes because of the botnet they can spray it out."