As email providers all over the world enforce strict rules for spam and users get more aware about the spam industry, spammers are coming up with new ways to get their unsolicited email through. This time, spammers have reportedly tapped into YouTube and are abusing the "Invite Your Friends" feature to send out "massive quantities of spam" from genuine YouTube servers, thus defeating spam filters and lowering the recipient's guard.
According to content security outfit Marshall, the messages all come from service@youtube.com and have the same appearance as a legitimate YouTube invite, except they contain the usual get-rich quick schemes and other typical spam content instead of links to online videos.
Spammers are increasingly targeting well known websites to deceive users. A similar attack back in August automatically generated large numbers of Hotmail and Gmail accounts from which to send massive quantities of unsolicited email. The YouTube attack is working on the same principle, according to Marshall.