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Michael Jackson suicide spam mail unleashes Trojan horse
Preying on intense media interest, hackers
unleash a dangerous spam email.
BY OUR TECH CORRESPONDENT
11 June, 2005: SophosLabs, which has a global network of virus and spam analysis centers, has cautioned about a trojan horse email attack which claims that Michael Jackson has attempted suicide. The attempt is to infect computers with a Trojan horse, while tempting the user with a link.
The spam mail claims that pop star Michael Jackson has attempted suicide. Clicking on the link will cause infection to the computer.
Sophos has identified hundreds of the spam messages being sent, preying on intense media interest in the trial of the controversial popstar. The spam emails have the following characteristics:
Subject: Re: Suicidal aattempt
Message text:
Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt. They suggest this attempt follows the last claim was made against the king of pop. 46 years old Michael has left a suicide note which describes and interpretes some of his sins.
Read more...
When users click on the link, they are taken to a website which secretly installs malicious code onto their PCs.
"If you click on the link the website displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson," said Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos. "However, this is a diversionary tactic - because behind the scenes, the website is downloading malware onto the user's computer without their knowledge."
Sophos analysts have studied the code downloaded by clicking on the link, and determined that it itself attempts to download another Trojan horse, which Sophos detects as Troj/Borobt-Gen. Sophos has updated its product PureMessage to detect the spam message automatically at email gateways.
Sophos says this is not the first time Michael Jackson has been exploited by virus writers and hackers. In October 2004, messages were posted on the internet claiming that incriminating home videos belonging to Jackson had been discovered - but clicking on the link infected web surfers with the Hackarmy Trojan horse.
"The sick minds behind viruses and other malware often exploit celebrity names and news stories in an attempt to infect as many people as possible," continued Theriault. "All computer users should be very careful about clicking on weblinks in unsolicited email or launching unknown attachments."
Sophos has urged companies to update their corporate virus protection, and filter attachments which may contain malicious code at the email gateway with a consolidated solution to defend against viruses and spam.
BY OUR TECH CORRESPONDENT
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