Increasing Danger: Spam Spreading Trojans, Spyware and Viruses

You can run from Trojans, Spyware and Viruses but you cannot hide!

Recently an abundance of reports have come into us from computer users who have been infected by Trojans, spyware or viruses by means of mostly malspam or spam messages that redirect you to malicious sites. Usually these sites prompt downloads of fake flash player files or redirect you to other websites that require you to click on a link that says "click to watch the video" or a "Video ActiveX Object Error... - You need to download a new version...". The nature of many of these reports of spreading malware onto computers has been talked about by us before. We suspected that these new campaigns would start to ramp up as the hackers have discovered a deciding way of effectively spreading their malware to make money.

In addition to receiving emails from computer users seeking help on removing recent Trojans and spyware, we have received a slew of malspam messages including those that we warned users of in the past such as the fake CNN.com and MSNBC malspam messages. What is most disturbing about the malspam messages that are now circulating is that they all look real and legitimate. They are so enticing that we have made the mistake of clicking on links that redirect us to a web page that promotes the download and purchase of rogue anti-spyware programs. It seems that we were only two small steps from entering our credit card information to purchase one of these bogus programs.

Hackers are getting bolder each and everyday with new authentic looking messages, ads, link descriptions and so on. It is as if we are getting hit from every possible angle with Spyware and Trojan infections.

Further examination of the most popular malspam message that we are receiving is that if the malicious link contained within the email is clicked-on, it will redirect you to a site that looks like it has an interesting video to show you. The bad thing is, if you click on the link to watch the video a malicious file is downloaded onto your computer. Once the file is executed it ports either a Trojan file or runs a set of instructions to display a notification of a parasite that needs to be removed from your system. That is just plain dirty!

Spyware-Techie's advice

We will reiterate and advise computer users to be very cautious and aware of how dangerous spam messages and malicious web sites can be. There is no 100% solution to avoiding these sites as hundreds of new ones appear every day. You can, however, stay in the know of the recent warnings from security experts and security sites that notify you of the newest threats circulating over the internet.

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