Job-Related Spam Carries Poisonous Payload

A staple of the spammer's arsenal -- those come-ons for job offers -- is getting a makeover because of the recession as online identity thieves concoct clever new ways to sneak onto people's computers. One tactic the bad guys are trying is a twist on an old standby: e-mails purporting to come from legitimate companies that say they're still hiring. The messages are loaded with links to the company's official Web site to throw off suspicious recipients. However, they are also packed with a dangerous surprise -- a computer virus -- hidden in an attachment that is supposed to be a job application.