A spam mail circulating as a Breaking News item that says the Australia's Prime Minister survived a heart attack, is spreading a Trojan that steals user names and passwords of online bank accounts in a nationwide cyber attack in Australia.
The mail starts off like this - "The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard have (sic) survived a heart attack. Mr Howard, 67 years old, was at Kirribilli House in Sydney, his prime residence, when he was suddenly stricken. Mr Howard was taken to the Royal North Shore Hospital where the best surgeons of Australia are struggling for his life."
Security Experts at MicroWorld Technologies informs that once a victim clicks on a link inside the mail, purportedly leading to the 'The Australian' newspaper's website, it shows a message - the page cannot be displayed. Instead, what's displayed is the skill of the malware writer as a Trojan is smartly slipped into the computer!
Sulabh Mahant, a Security Analyst at MicroWorld Technologies says the Trojan belongs to 'Trojan.win32.VB' family. "It has a keylogger component which can steal user names and passwords when you visit websites of specific banks like Westpac, Commonwealth Bank, Caja Madrid, Bank of America, Deutsche Bank and more."
"The backdoor in the Trojan opens a Web Server in the attacked computer and takes orders from the remote attacker, to perform whatever he or she pleases to do on the system. This means the malware author can not only log on to the victim's online account and make transactions, but also take over the customer's personal computer," he explains.
While many Virus mails in the last few months relied on real incidents like the death of Saddam or the storm in Europe, this one comes from another tribe of crooks who prefers cooking their own fake news stories with some home made spice!, says Sunil Kripalani, Vice President, Global Sales and Marketing, MicroWorld Technologies.
"Social Engineering is now becoming sharper and finer as the attackers are delving deep into the human psyche to come up with techniques like these, which can readily prompt an action from the targeted user. The news about a national leader's critical condition is likely to evoke less suspicion than the news on his or her death itself. And as we all can see, so far this master stroke is reaping in rich dividends for the people behind this malware," Mr Kripalani observes.
According to MicroWorld, Enterprises can safeguard their users from such attacks using MailScan AntiVirus, AntiSpam and Content Security solution at Mail Servers. Desktop users are given real-time protection for their email and web traffic with eScan, the AntiVirus and Content Security software for desktops and Mail Servers.
About MicroWorld
MicroWorld Technologies is the developer of the world's most advanced AntiVirus, Content Security and Firewall software eScan, MailScan, and eConceal. MicroWorld Winsock Layer (MWL) is the revolutionary technology that powers most of MicroWorld products enabling them to achieve several certifications and awards by some of the most prestigious testing bodies, notable among them being Virus Bulletin, Checkmark, TUCOWS, Red Hat Ready and Novell Ready.
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