A new-style spam campaign purporting to offer a cut-price edition of Microsoft Windows Vista is on the increase.

Image spam uses a graphic embedded in an email rather than regular text and has grown in popularity amongst spammers attempting to communicate their marketing messages to internet users.

Often image spam is used for promoting stock pump-and-dump scams or drugs to help with weight loss and sexual performance.

'This widespread spam campaign carries all the hallmarks of a typical image spam,' said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for security software supplier Sophos.

'The spammer has added speckled noise in the form of random pixels to make the graphic slightly different on each sending, and users are told to type in the name of the website rather than clicking on a link.'

Around 30 per cent of all spam now uses images to try and sneak past anti-spam filters, says Cluley.

'Computer users need to ensure that they have strong defences in place or they will continue to be bombarded by nuisances like this,' he said.

It is unclear whether acting upon the spam would furnish the computer user with a pirated edition of Windows Vista or simply steal their credit card details.

'It's worrying just how poorly educated people are about web and email threats,' said Cluley. 'System administrators and security geeks know about informative websites like GetSafeOnline but the average man in the street hasn't got a clue.'

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Further Reading:

Vista vulnerable to malware

Writers block hits malware authors

Social sites open door to malware