[cgiapp] spam email I just received, referencing the Examples wiki page

[Mark Rajcok]

The Subject was "Biology Research Project"
-- Mark

On Mon, May 14, 2012 at 10:13 PM, Ron Savage <ron at savage.net.au> wrote:

> Hi Mark
>
> On 15/05/12 11:49, Mark Rajcok wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > I just received this spam to my inbox:
>
> What was the Subject?
>
> > ----------------
> > Hi Mark,
> >
> > I am curious if you are the person responsible for adding content to the
> > following page: cgi-app.org/index.cgi?Examples
> >
> > If not, feel free to forward me on to the correct person! I came across
> > your page during my research for a project for which I am contributor. It
> > is a research project that examines how biology has evolved from being a
> > scientific study into a practice that has the power to affect global
> change
> > for the better. The recently completed resource offers articles with an
> > insightful look for anyone considering or currently in the biology field.
> >
> > I would love to send over more details about this project and partner
> with
> > you, let me know!
> >
> > Thanks for your time. I look forward to working with you!
> > Madison
> >
> > We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a
> > habit. - Aristotle
> > -----------------
> >
> > I'm suspecting that someone modified the Examples page with a link to a
> > site with malicious content.
> > Looking at the source for the Examples page (yeah, I probably shouldn't
> > have loaded that page in my browser, as it could have been modified to
> > contain some malicious javascript), one link that looked possibly
> > suspicious is the following:
> >
> > <li>Just a little<u><a href="http://valis--123.tigem.it/htdocs/sce.html
> ">
> > site</a></u>  to display data from a<u><a href="
> > http://genomebiology.com/2006/7/7/R56">scientific article</a></u>, by
> Remo
> > Sanges</li>
> >
> > Note that I modified the first link and added "--123" to it, so that if
> it
> > is a bad site, and someone clicks on that link someday, it won't go to
> the
> > bad site.
> >
> > I'm curious to know if any else receives/ed this email.
> > I did not want to reload the page and check the change history to see
> when
> > the link to sce.html was added.
>
> It's certainly not obvious why you were chosen to receive this email,
> and that makes me suspicious.
>
> genomebiology.com looks legit.
>
> tigem.it does too.
>
> I searched using 'Search for $X', not just $X.
>
> If the email had said: Can I add a link, since we use CGI::App?, I'd be
> happier. But the text actually used leaves me a bit uneasy.
>
> --
> Ron Savage
>