A mass mailed e-mail carrying a link to an alleged account of a suicide attempt by Michael Jackson connects to a malware site.
Don’t click the link. The story is false, and the link leads to a site that will silently download a Trojan Horse application onto a system.
That’s the advice given by Sophos security consultant Carole Theriault, who wrote about the malicious spam message being seen by hundreds of users. Users whose curiosity about the King of Pop’s legal troubles piques them enough to click the link will see a message saying the site they are trying to reach is busy.
The message serves to divert attention from the Trojan silently downloading in the background. The malware has been identified as Troj/Borobt-Gen and could allow an outside party access to a system.
The spam contains misspellings and looks like this:
Subject: Re: Suicidal aattempt
Message text:
Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt.
They suggest this attempt follows the last claim was made against the king of pop. 46 years old Michael has left pre-suicid note which describes and interpretes some of his sins.
Read more…
The Read More text contains the malicious link. Users should, as usual, make sure their antivirus software is up to date.
“The sick minds behind viruses and other malware often exploit celebrity names and news stories in an attempt to infect as many people as possible,” says Ms. Theriault.
“All computer users should be very careful about clicking on weblinks in unsolicited email or launching unknown attachments.”
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
