The latest MessageLabs report has revealed that spammers are taking advantage of Google’s “I’m Feeling Lucky” button to execute their junk-mail misdeeds.

We’re all familiar with it. The “I’m Feel Lucky Button” works by taking you straight to the first Web page that is relevant to your query, saving you time by cutting out the ‘returned results’ page.

Well, it would seem this feature is now being used by spammers to get around your anti-spam filters.

Called ‘search-engine spam’, this type of trick has surfaced recently and MessageLabs recorded that 17% of all spam in Jan accounted for this type of spam.

According to their 2008 Jan report, here’s the deal: “Search engine spam is a technique that allows the spammer to include a link constructed from a search engine query in an e-mail message. When followed, the link will resolve in the spammer's forged Web site. This means that the spammers can send messages without directly mentioning the spam Web site, which makes it difficult for traditional anti-spam products to detect the malicious link."

To find out more, you can download the full report from their Web site: http://www.messagelabs.co.uk/default.aspx

So there it is folks – be very, very careful when clicking any link in an e-mail that does not come from a trusted source.

Chuck Norris fun - try this!

To deviate slightly from the seriousness of information security, here is a funny trick for all you Chuck Norris fans. Type ‘find Chuck Norris’ into your Google search bar, and press the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button.

What malware looks like

In closing, I’d also like to share another link I found on the MessageLabs site: it is a graphical representation of what different types of malware looks like based on the actual code. Not so different from what human viruses look like, actually. Some of them are quite beautiful actually. Enjoy: http://www.messagelabs.co.uk/threats?c=WW729BpQp4GLx7X2QWb46g%3d%3d

 Stay safe!