Johannesburg, 29 Aug 2008
This week, computer users have been warned of a widespread spam campaign that pretends that the recipient's baby has been kidnapped.
"The campaign tries to trick innocent computer users into opening a file claiming to be photographs of the infant, but is really malicious software," says Brett Myroff, CEO of regional Sophos distributor, Sophos SA.
The malicious e-mails carry the subject line: "We have hijacked your baby", and claim that a $50 000 reward must be paid for the child's safe return.
Attached to the e-mail is a file, entitled photo.zip, which contains a malicious Trojan horse that will download further malware from the Internet to compromise PCs. Sophos detects the Trojan horse as Troj/Resex-Fam, explains Myroff.
"Receiving or reading these widespread e-mails themselves does not mean you are infected. However, if users open the attachment they will infect their Windows computer, and give hackers an open door to take control and steal information. Once a PC is commandeered, criminals can spy, steal or launch attacks against other parts of the net."
Sophos believes the disguise used by the hackers proves there are no depths to which computer criminals are prepared to stoop to get financial reward.
"Hackers have no qualms about exploiting a family's natural instinct to defend its most vulnerable members. Hopefully, people will pause before opening the attachment, but the reflex action of some may be to click first and think later," Myroff says. "Everyone should ensure they have defences in place to properly protect against the very latest malware attacks."
This week's line-up of low to medium threats include the Troj/Zbot-AK Trojan, which is affecting the Windows platform.
The following Trojans for the Windows OS have also been noted:
Troj/Agent-HNA
Troj/Agent-HNB
Troj/Agent-HND
Troj/Agent-HNG
Troj/DwnLdr-HHE
Troj/BHO-GT
Troj/FakeVir-FE
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