According to the McAfee Q4 Threats Report, events such as swine flu, the Air France plane crash and Michael Jackson's death were used by spammers as subjects for messages in a bid to increase the number of people who open them.
Furthermore, the study revealed that messages purporting to be about the 2010 FIFA World Cup were used as part of a phishing scam, while trojans were distributed in emails themed about the Centers for Disease Control.
The report also warned security consultants about the rise of politically-motivated hacking, highlighting the recent example of Iranian Cyber Army's attacking microblogging website Twitter.
Mike Gallagher, senior vice president and chief technology officer at McAfee Labs, said: 'In quarter four, we saw spam activity drop, but identified some interesting trends developing in terms of the geographic distribution of cyber threats and the types of threats executed.'
A report from Sunbelt Software recently claimed that trojans were the most common e-threat during January.
Furthermore, the study revealed that messages purporting to be about the 2010 FIFA World Cup were used as part of a phishing scam, while trojans were distributed in emails themed about the Centers for Disease Control.
The report also warned security consultants about the rise of politically-motivated hacking, highlighting the recent example of Iranian Cyber Army's attacking microblogging website Twitter.
Mike Gallagher, senior vice president and chief technology officer at McAfee Labs, said: 'In quarter four, we saw spam activity drop, but identified some interesting trends developing in terms of the geographic distribution of cyber threats and the types of threats executed.'
A report from Sunbelt Software recently claimed that trojans were the most common e-threat during January.
