German Virus Sobers Up Email World

The world of SPAM began speaking with a distinct German accent after this weekend, as email inboxes are flooded with messages, most of them with Nazi rhetoric in the subject lines.

A new variant of the Sober worm, Sober.q., is clogging up email accounts world wide with links to news sites that “”smells of right-wing political rhetoric.”

While the e-mails themselves do not carry a virus, the sites they link to often have an automated update of the older Sober.p. variant.

The cyber blitzkrieg is breaking new ground for the “art” of spamming as most SPAM is designed to snag customers for various products. Political spamming is new.

Beginning to spread on May 2nd, subject lines in English often read, “The Whore Lived Like a German,” and “Dresden Bombing Is To Be Regretted Enormously.”

Other messages warned of ethnic Mafia groups and the increase in foreigners attending German schools

“We have seen a trend in which worm authors are using spam not to hawk goods, but as a tool for political propaganda,” said Scott Chasin, chief technical officer for the anti-virus firm MX Logic.

According to Vincent Gullotto, vice president of McAfee’s antivirus emergency response team, the new variant is more successful than the older version, and more attacks could be eminent.