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You Don't Know Where That Girl's Been
SecurityProNews
Staff Writer
2006-08-30
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Vicky Willington, a newly arrived college student, is looking to hook up while in Australia, and is marketing herself via email. A word to the gullible, Internet romance doesn't work that way, and Vicky has a much different Trojan in mind.
Security firm Sophos sent out the warning this morning about messages going out to Australian inboxes using an unusual method of distributing malicious code - the spammer method. The emails contain no text, but an embedded graphical image telling users to visit a website. The URL must be hand-entered.
"This malware attack is particularly interesting because it borrows techniques commonly used by spammers. The message body is image only - whereas Trojans are more commonly distributed as text only or text with embedded images," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
"The image in the email contains random noise to sidestep signature-based detection - a technique normally seen in medical or stock spam campaigns. Also, the subject matter is similar to 'pretty girl' spam campaigns that we see - but normally they send text spam rather than image spam, and urge the recipient to reply via email rather than visit a website."
The message reads:
Hi, My name is Vicky Willington, I'm just a college girl who just arrived in Australia and looking for a sex partner. All what I need is a good man, you must be serious and honest, let me know if you wish to meet.
You may see my pics at my web page
Sophos says the website referred to in the email contains a soft porn image and a link to the Troj/Dloadr-AMA Trojan horse.
Spam containing embedded images has risen from 18.2 percent in January to over 35 percent today, according to the security company. Because the messages use images rather than text, they are often missed by spam filters.
"Some might believe that those foolhardy enough to look for a sex partner on the web get everything they deserve," said Chuley. "The best defense remains to protect yourself with up-to-date security products and a healthy dose of skepticism about unsolicited email."
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SecurityProNews is a daily online and email publication focusing on internet security issues.
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