symantec has issued a warning to users to be aware of malware delivered by holiday e-cards. Cyveillance notes that phishing attacks designed to lure unsuspecting visitors to malicious Web sites increased by 300% on Thanksgiving Day and Message Labs reported that holiday-themed spam was being measured at a rate of about 300,000 per hour following the Thanksgiving holiday.

e-cards are the preferred vehicle for holiday phishing attacks. Current attacks include cards that appear to be sent by legitimate merchants, but contain links to a downloader that, when activated, downloads additional malicious files to the user's hard drive.

If users receive an offer from a vendor that they would like to investigate, the safest way to do so is to find the vendor's site independently of any unsolicited email.