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Don't Digg this malware | March 31, 2009
Social media sites Facebook, LinkedIn and Digg are very popular, drawing thousands of users per day. Unfortunately, that popularity is also drawing criminals
By Peter Wolchak
A new report from Panda Security has discovered that at least 50 Digg profiles are being used to distribute malware. Visitors to the site are enticed by postings including “Jessica Simpson Hotel Sex Tape,” “Megan Fox naked NEW SEX TAPE” and “Christian Bale freak out dubbed with video!” Those who follow these links are then told their computer requires a special video codec to play the file. If people fall for that and click the download link they get VideoPlay, adware that masquerades as anti-virus software. It runs a fake scan of the computer, reports an infection and then offers to download more software to fix the problem—for a price.
“The profiles used have probably been ‘stolen’ from their owners, by stealing account passwords. This is another example of how cyber-crooks are using trusted Web 2.0 services to distribute malware,” said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs.
Take a look at the sample images (www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/tags/videoplay) and then ask yourself: is the chance of seeing Megan Fox naked worth the risk of infecting your computer?
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By Peter Wolchak
A new report from Panda Security has discovered that at least 50 Digg profiles are being used to distribute malware. Visitors to the site are enticed by postings including “Jessica Simpson Hotel Sex Tape,” “Megan Fox naked NEW SEX TAPE” and “Christian Bale freak out dubbed with video!” Those who follow these links are then told their computer requires a special video codec to play the file. If people fall for that and click the download link they get VideoPlay, adware that masquerades as anti-virus software. It runs a fake scan of the computer, reports an infection and then offers to download more software to fix the problem—for a price. “The profiles used have probably been ‘stolen’ from their owners, by stealing account passwords. This is another example of how cyber-crooks are using trusted Web 2.0 services to distribute malware,” said Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs. Take a look at the sample images (www.flickr.com/photos/panda_security/tags/videoplay) and then ask yourself: is the chance of seeing Megan Fox naked worth the risk of infecting your computer?
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