Fake flash player site used to spread malware

Shockwave horror

By John Leyden • Get more from this author

Posted in Security, 22nd June 2007 13:07 GMT

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Hackers have developed a new ruse that attempts to trick users into downloading malware from a fake Adobe Shockwave Player download site.

Prospective marks who stray onto lure sites - such as a game site related to RuneScape - are presented with broken icons in an attempt to convince them that their copy of Shockwave (if already installed) isn't working properly.

Links from the site all point to another site which "diagnoses the problem" as caused by a need to upgrade Macromedia Flash Player. The user is redirected to a bogus site that poses as the Shockwave Player Download Center.

Of course, the payload is a Trojan package - rather than the popular Flash package. The site features JavaScript that disables a user's right mouse click, the SANS Institute's Internet Storm Centre adds.

By using social engineering instead of exploiting prevalent vulnerabilities - such as the iFrame vulnerability in Internet Explorer - hackers are extending their range of potential targets.

Although its easy for the net-savvy to spot the fake site as a ringer (for one thing a fake URL is visible in the address bar) the tactic is still capable of tripping up the unwary. ®

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