Thursday, August 6, 2009

Every Day is Halloween for Masquerading Malware

On Halloween innocent children disguised as malevolent horrors roam the streets demanding treats. But every day of the year malevolent programs disguised as innocent applications roam the Internet looking for suckers. Install one of these unthinkingly and it could steal your credit card info or turn your computer into a hideous spam-spewing zombie. The infamous
Storm Worm, for example, likes to dress up as a
fun Halloween game, or as a
cute little kitten.In the spirit of the season the good people at F-Secure have blogged their
Top Five Halloween Costumes for Malware.

The Bill Collector sends receipts for online purchases you never made - investigate and you're doomed. The Starlet lures drooling fans with promises of nude celeb photos. The Casanova sends you paeans of email adoration, though all it really wants is your blood. The Hero offers to protect you from the other bad guys with a fake Microsoft patch. And the Chameleon takes on any number of disiguises, like the Storm Worm mentioned above. Check F-Secure's blog post for more details. And if one of these nasties comes knocking, don't fall for the disguise. Hide the candy and bolt the door!

No comments:

Post a Comment