VIRUS ALERT

Sophos Warns Of Malicious Software Disguised As YouTube Movie Download

SINGAPORE, Aug 29 (Bernama) -- Sophos, a world leader in information technology security, has warned Internet users about the latest disguise being used by malicious software (malware) authors in their attempt to infect people's personal computers (PCs) -- an e-mail claiming to point to a YouTube video.
"Clicking on a link inside the e-mail will send surfers to a web page containing a malicious script and a Trojan horse designed to compromise the user's PC and turn it into a zombie," the company said in a statement.
The malware that hackers were using to try and infect innocent computer users was from the same families of malware used in the waves of Storm Trojan that wreaked havoc on the Internet earlier this year, it said.
"The gang behind these attacks are among the most professional we've ever seen -- spewing out new variants of their code with multiple disguises in their attempt to infect as many PCs as possible," said Sophos senior technology consultant, Graham Cluley.
"Clicking on the links in the e-mail won't take you to YouTube's real website but the IP address of a compromised PC. If infected, victims' computers can be used by hackers to steal personal information, spam out malware and junk e-mail, or launch distributed denial of service attacks against innocent parties".
Sophos said that its products pro-actively detect the malware as "Troj/JSXor-Gen" and "Mal/Dorf-E", without requiring an update. Users of other vendors' products are recommended to update their protection and ensure that they are defended against the threats.
Last month, Sophos published the findings of a research which revealed a rise in web-based malware in the first half of 2007.
"With computer users becoming increasingly aware of how to protect against e-mail-aware viruses and malware, hackers have turned to the web as their preferred vector of attack," the company said.