What is the most popular way for cyber criminals to spread malware and links to  malicious web sites?

A. Software Bundling
B. Hacking
C. Spam Email
D. None of these

If you answered “C”, you’re correct. You get an A. Spam is number one when it comes to bringing malicious files and websites to your computer.

According to Security outfit F-Secure, spam email is still the most popular means for cyber-miscreants to spread malware and entice people to click links to malicious websites.

According to F-Secure’s analysis of spam email, almost half of all spam emails (46 percent) are pushing dating scams, about one-third of them (31 percent) contain links to malicious websites and approximately one-quarter of them (23 percent) have malicious attachments. Eighty-five percent of these malicious attachments are one of these five file types: .ZIP, .DOC, .XLS, .PDF, and .7Z (7-zip compressed file.

F-Secure, noted that while spam has been a vector for viruses and malware for decades, as computer operating systems become more efficient at protecting users from viruses, exploits and vulnerabilities, spam has gained more popularity and is still the number one way malware and links to malicious web sites are spread.

As we’ve been warning you for almost 20 years now – Do not click on links in email unless you’re sure you know who sent it and you trust the sender (and even then be careful if you were not expecting the email) – in other words THINK BEFORE YOU CLICK.

And… don’t ever open attachments in email unless you were expecting the attachment, you know what it is, and you’re 100% positive you know who sent it. And consider not opening any of these five file types at all if they are sent as attachments: .ZIP, .DOC, .XLS, .PDF, and .7Z (7-zip compressed file.