Hackers to StratFor customers: You got rickrolld

Customers of think tank Strategic Forecasting Co. (Stratfor) whose email addresses were leaked online following a Christmas Day attack on Stratfor's website can expect to get emails featuring 1980s singer Rick Astley.

 

The emails claim to be from the CEO of the security firm, according to a blog post of computer security firm Sophos.

 

"The email proclaims to be an announcement from George Friedman about changes to Stratfor services, including making their premium content available for free due to the inconvenience of their services being unavailable," it said.

 

Still, Sophos added there are some signs for those with a keen eye that the email was a prank.

 

It said the link at the beginning of the email that invites the recipient to "Rate Stratfor's incident response" leads to a page "butthurtreportform.jpg".

 

Another clue was a reference of "the recent intrusion by those deranged, sexually deviant criminal hacker terrorist masterminds" at the end of the message.

 

"While being Rickrolled is often funny, and you can be sure I'm never gonna give you up, it could have been a much more dangerous phishing attack," Sophos said.

 

Rickrolling refers to an Internet meme involving Astley's 1987 hit song "Never Gonna Give You Up."

 

"Considering the enormous number of email addresses lost in 2011 nearly all of our email addresses are known to attackers, often along with the knowledge of who we have done business with," Sophos noted.

 

"This makes us extra vulnerable in that one careless moment to believe the message is really from Stratfor, our bank, Marriott Rewards, Walmart, Sony or any other company who lost our personal details," it added. — TJD, GMA News