WIRED Marketing Fail

So I am a subscriber to WIRED.  I am also a IT professional. I am fairly security conscious, not likely to fall for any phish. I see adverts and custom email campaigns all the time for different offers.  Here is one from WIRED that struck me as an opportune way to spear phish IT people.

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		Dear WIRED Reader, At WIRED, we strongly value our reader's opinions. That's why, as Vice President and Publisher of WIRED, I'm personally inviting you to complete this online survey for our Preferred Subscriber Network™, an exclusive group of readers to whom we turn first when we want to get helpful feedback or to share the latest information on new products and services we think you'll enjoy. As a thank you for completing this survey, you will be entered into a sweepstakes giveaway for a chance to win $50,000 *. And, after completing the survey, you can enjoy all of the benefits that come with membership - including invitations to special events, private sales and new product announcements. Simply click on the link below or cut and paste the link into your browser. http://cnsurvey.biz/Instructions.html?magID=37&id=10000110175654790&w=2138&b=s Thank you and welcome to the Preferred Subscriber Network™. Sincerely, Howard Mittman Vice President and Publisher WIRED

*NO PURCHASE OR SURVEY COMPLETION NECESSARY. To enter and for full rules, including alternate method of entry, click here . Starts 12:01 AM ET February 16th, 2010 and ends 11:59 PM ET June 30th, 2010, when all entries must be received. Open to legal residents of the 50 United States/DC, 13 years of age or older (18 or older in Maine), except employees of Sponsor, Administrator, Promoter and their immediate families. Odds of winning depend on the number of Creative Presentations. If this Creative Presentation is selected, the odds of winning depend on the number of entries received through this Creative Presentation. Void outside the 50 United States/DC and where prohibited. ARV of Grand Prize: $50,000. Sponsor: ePrize, LLC, One ePrize Drive, Pleasant Ridge, MI 48069. Administrator: Equation Research, LLC, 453 E. Wonderview Avenue, #250, Estes Park, CO 80517. Promoter: The Condé Nast Publications, 1166 Sixth Avenue, 15th Floor, NY, NY 10036. To remove this e-mail address from future communications regarding WIRED, click here . To view our privacy policy, click here . Privacy_administration@advancemags.com Condé Nast Publications 1313 North Market Street Wilmington, DE 19801

Note the link they want you to click.  I almost did. What is waiting for me at cnsurvey.biz?  Check this out, when I mouse over this cnsurvey.biz link it actually wants to send me to http://links.mkt636.com/ctt?kn=1&m=2905913&r=MTM2ODQ5MDYxOTAS1&b=0&j=MTc1NTg3ODU3S0&mt=1&rt=0  Talk about disingenuous! Now my alarms are really going off.  Now I mouse over other links in the email.  They all point to links.mkt.636.com. Sure appears phishy. So time for some more research.

Here is the whois for cnsurvey.biz
http://www.domaincrawler.com/domains/view/cnsurvey.biz
Hmmmm...  Not a whole lot here indicative that this is run by WIRED or Conde Nast.


Here is the whois for mkt636.com...
http://www.domaincrawler.com/domains/view/mkt636.com
Check out the bit down near the end

MarkMonitor is the Global Leader in Enterprise Brand Protection.

Domain Management
MarkMonitor Brand Protection™
AntiFraud Solutions
Corporate Consulting Services

http://www.markmonitor.com/contact/index.php

Ok so obviously this is someone who thinks they are doing a service for WIRED and not a phish.  I disagree the they are protecting WIRED's mark by putting out a survey email that looks like a phishing attempt.  I also disagree that they understand a whole lot about fraud if they make mistakes like this url swap.

But consider this.  What if the phisher can conduct his look alike campaign at the same time that the genuine campaign is going on?  Now when a suspicious recipient calls they can be reassured by Wired's very own customer service to go ahead and click. Wow!

If you are going to do email marketing make sure the links point back to your domain.

Don't do screwy link substitutions. Show the links. 

This is almost as tempting as the 2 GB USB drive I found in the parking lot....  Not!

BTW.  I love the magazine.