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The Valentine’s Day E-card: Trojan horse of the modern age

Software provider Computer Associates has issued an early warning to computer users the world over to be wary when opening E-cards this Valentine’s season. The Win32/Waledac trojan is enjoying new life as a nasty download that will be soon spamming its way into your inbox, disguised as a Valentine’s Day themed card.

The trojan, once downloaded, sets up shop gathering and sharing your personal data with external information collecting servers. Once infected, your machine also may be used by foreign entities as a spam bot, and can even be used to spread the infected email to other computers. According to CA, the files to keep an eye out for are love.exe; onlyyou.exe; you.exe; youandme.exe; and meandyou.exe, but they do note that new files could be added to the mix at any time.

Not your typical e-card: program warns of possible STD

When you see an e-card in your inbox, you are probably expecting the typical messages: Congratulations, Happy Birthday, Thank You, etc. However, a new e-mail notification program is sending out a different kind of message to users: I’m sorry, but you need to get checked for an STD.

The program inSPOT is working with several other states and countries to let partners know anonymously that you have been exposed to a sexually transmitted disease. As long as you have their e-mail address, you can send your sexual partners a heads up about their risk of infection without feeling embarrassed about the omission.