AIM worm warning
AOL IM users at risk from botnet-building attack.
Instant messaging security firm FaceTime Communications has issued an alert on a highly sophisticated blended
attack targeting users of AOL Instant Messaging (AIM).
The initial vector of the attack is a worm spreading via AIM buddy lists, persuading recipients to run one of several
programs, disguised as an image file. Once on the host machine, downloader trojans are dropped and run to bring in
more malicious software, rootkits are installed to mask activity, backdoors are opened to allow the machine to
control IRC channels, and buddy lists are harvested and links sent out to more potential victims.
FaceTime researchers were particularly interested to have caught the botnet at an early stage of being built,
and to be able to follow the spreading of the attacks. Details of their findings can be found on their blog,
here, and in a press release,
here.
19 September 2006
Tags:
virus
del.icio.us 
digg this
