The infamous "Storm Worm" malware is at it again - this time changing tactics to be in line with the holidays. Following an onslaught on Christmas Eve, when holiday-themed spam spread to tempt users to visit a malicious X-rated website, security researchers are now spotting New Years e-greeting cards with similar ill-willed intentions.

The December edition of Lavasoft News was the premiere for a new design of the newsletter and we would like to thank all of our readers who wrote in with positive feedback. In order to give the newsletter a more coherent feel, we overhauled the design, both in terms of appearance and content.

This past summer, the U.S. FBI announced the results of Operation Bot Roast, its ongoing cyber crime crackdown, launched to battle the growing botnet threat.

The second phase of the investigation against computer crime perpetrators, dubbed Bot Roast II, has resulted in a new string of arrests. To date, as a result of the ongoing investigation:

"Loss from online fraud in the U.S. is projected to reach $3.6 billion this year, up 20 percent from last year, according to a CyberSource survey."