Merry Xmas and thanks for the Spam

When christmas greetings turn nasty...

Antivirus vendors have tracked one malicious e-card in the past month. While it threatens annoyance more than damage, experts say more dangerous deliveries are possible.

"The biggest thing we've seen in the last thirty days in the Friend Greeting Card, which is primarily just a nuisance," says Lisa Smith, a product manager with McAfee's Security Consumer division. McAfee lists the card as a malicious threat, but it does not deliver a virus or cause damage to recipients' PCs, Smith says.

Still, as many people forgo the post office in favor of electronic holiday greetings, it's wise to be careful. Here are some tips for a safe season.

The Friend Greeting Card arrives in an e-mail that directs the recipient to a URL, FriendGreetings.com. The site requests that the recipient run an installation program, which appears to install software on the PC, Smith says. It presents a license agreement which includes the buried statement that the program will forward the same message to all contacts in the recipients Outlook address book.

Few users actually take the trouble to read the entire document, Smith says. "It basically says it's going to spam everyone in your address book," she says. "It's clogging networks. It doesn't damage your system, but it does violate your privacy."

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