This article is more than 1 year old

Trojan poses as bin Laden suicide pics

Usenet spam plan

Virus writers are trying to trick users into opening a Trojan horse on their PC by passing malicious code off as a "suicide photographs" of Osama bin Laden. At a result, Usenet newsgroups are overflowing with bogus messages claiming that journalists found the terrorist leader's hanged body earlier this week.

The messages direct users to a website where a file can be downloaded, purporting to contain photographs but in reality containing the Hackarmy Trojan horse. Hackarmy gives virus writers control over infected machines. The Trojan has been around for some months so users with up-to-date AV software should be protected.

Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at AV firm Sophos, said: "It looks like virus writers are trying to give it a new breath of life by targeting Usenet." ®

Related stories

CoolWebSearch is winning Trojan war
Backdoor program gets backdoored
Virus writers deploy bulk mail software
Zombie PCs spew out 80% of spam

More about

TIP US OFF

Send us news


Other stories you might like