The latest trick on the “lets mess up people’s computers” front is also an exercise in extraordinarily bad taste. On Thursday, British security firm, Sophos labs picked on Trojan horse packed into an email posing as a suicide note for the pop singer.
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…
When one clicks on the link the email, it plugs some delightful code into one’s computer and creates more than a few problems.
“If you click on the link the website displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson,” said Carole Theriault, security consultant at Sophos. “However, this is a diversionary tactic – because behind the scenes the website is downloading malware onto the user’s computer without their knowledge.”
During the download process, another trojan horse gets plugged into your terminal. It’s a nifty little Troj/Borobt-Gen. Sophos commented on their website that this wasn’t the first time people have used Jacko’s name to cause problems. An email got circulated last fall claiming incriminating videos and it stuck a Hackarmy Trojan horse too.
No word yet on the Jackson verdict either.
John Stith is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
