Historic events like US elections or the Olympics have always been a spammer's delight. This week's US elections are no exception, with phishers seeking to capitalise on the results.

Websense, a web data and security provider, claims to have been the first to discover the malicious activities of the spammers. Surinder Singh, Websense regional director of SAARC and India, said, "The activity began from multiple locations immediately after Obama’s acceptance speech, as a huge number of people were waiting to hear him. The email contained a link to a malicious website, purported to contain a video of Obama’s speech. It then downloaded a rootkit into the user’s computer and sent the vital data to multiple command and control servers," reports the Economic Times .

The data then goes into cyberspace and the hackers can then easily control the user's computer. This can cost the user a fortune if he or she has carried out e-banking transactions, since the transaction details are available to the hacker.

Phishers use names of well-known publications like Time magazine and La Republica in the email subject line so as to attract users' attention, leading them to click on the links. The hackers also use videos.

Singh also stated that hackers intruded into a well-known travel site and used it to host an information-stealing Trojan Horse downloader file called "BarackObama.exe".

A Symantec spokesperson divulged that a presidential gift card spam was also in existence, whereby users were asked to fill in a survey on the election in return for a free gift card, giving spammers access to personal information of the users. Spammers also carried out a Barrackumentary attack offering a free DVD about Barack Obama, and asking for personal credit card details. X

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