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PDFs now used in e-mail spam.

A new way to get you to read spam since most spam filters "trust" PDF files.

Marshall, an IT security firm, sent out a warning that the new spam fad seems to be to put the spam-ad in .pdf format. This is a pretty clever move since most of us trust the format as a way to transfer information. In a recent spam wave using an attached PDF, the file name would include the recipient's username, which could even further entice a victim to open the file.

Bradley Anstis, Marshal's director of product management, said that with the proliferation of botnets (read our explanation of botnets) spammers are no longer worried about how large of a file is sent with e-mail spam, since the to-be-sent spam doesn't reside in the spammers computer or server.

To protect yourself from this type of e-mail spam, do the following: Don't believe everything to read and delete e-mail you don't recognize. In this case nothing could be installed on your machine, you'd just lose valuable time waiting for the document to open.

[via ITWire].