Thursday, April 19, 2007

Phishing scam Exploits Virginia Tech Tragedy


Cybercriminals already are taking advantage of the tragedy at the Virginia school, sending out spam e-mails that lure people to download a Trojan designed to steal banking information.

Just a day after security researchers warned people to be alert for hackers and phishers exploiting the Virginia Tech tragedy, spam promising images of the shootings have begun spreading around the globe.

The spam e-mails carry a photograph of gunman Cho Seung-hui, who killed more than 30 students and teachers at the Virginia school on Monday before killing himself. The e-mails claim to link to a Brazilian Web site carrying movie footage of the campus shootings, according to researchers at Sophos. However, clicking on the link downloads a malicious screensaver file, called Terror_em_Virginia.SCR), which installs a piece of spyware that acts as a banking Trojan, which can be used to steal passwords, user names and account numbers. (Information Week)

The spammed emails claim to point to camera phone footage of the campus shootings. (Sophos)

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