Barely 24 hours after former Libyan strongman Moammar Gaddafi was captured and killed, a malware attack exploiting public curiosity has surfaced.
Computer security firm Sophos said the malware poses as photos of Gaddafi’s bloody death, but threatens to bleed a victim’s online bank account dry instead.
“Malicious hackers have spammed out an attack posing as pictures of Gaddafi’s death, tricking users into believing that they came from the AFP news agency and are being forwarded by a fellow internet user,” Sophos said in a blog post.
It added this appeared to be among the first actual attacks since the death of Gaddafi made news headlines around the world.
Gaddafi’s 42-year iron rule ended Thursday night (Manila time) with his capture and eventual death.
Sophos said the subject of the email appears as if it was forwarded: “Subject: Fw: AFP Photo News: Bloody Photos: Libya dictator Moammar Gadhafi’s Death.”
The attached file is named “Bloody Photos_Gadhafi_Death.rar” but when decompressed by users of computers running Windows, it creates a malicious file called “Bloody Photos_Gadhafi_DeathGadhafi?rar.scr.”
Sophos said its anti-virus products detect the malware proactively as Mal/Behav-103.
Microsoft said Mal/Behav-103 is a Trojan that redirects web browser navigation away from certain online financial websites to another IP address.
“The destination server and page could host an imitation logon screen for the purpose of capturing user-entered credentials,” it said.
“Internet users would be wise to remember to be very careful about the links they click on, and to be suspicious of unsolicited attachments,” Sophos said. — ELR, GMA News
Article source: http://www.gmanews.tv/story/236194/technology/1st-gaddafi-malware-surfaces
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