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Click Fraud Trojan Targets Google, Yahoo
David Utter
Staff Writer
2008-03-12
 Security News RSS Feed
Top search engines Google, Yahoo, along with China's Baidu, received attention from the ongoing work of click fraudsters distributing a Trojan to boost ad click revenue.
A continuing process of nearly daily updates keeps one Trojan in demand from scammers determined to rip off revenue sharing programs like AdSense.
The Trojan described by security vendor Symantec drops several files and a browser helper object onto a PC. Periodically, the browser helper object opens URLs tied to affiliate IDs at search engines, or performs searches for certain keywords.
Either way, the Trojan helps the affiliate earn clicks, leading to revenue. Symantec identified several dishonest affiliates based on configuration files downloaded by the Trojan; URLs for Google and Baidu were among the ones discovered as well.
"We can tell the authors of Trojan.Trafbrush consist of a well managed team. For their hard work, they must be paid well by their affiliates and the affiliates must deem it worthwhile," Symantec researcher Chen Yu wrote.
View All Articles by David Utter
About the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer for SecurityProNews and WebProNews.
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