Fake security blogs lead to malware

Blogger sites play on fears to draw victims to porn, trojans.

According to a report from Aladdin, numerous fake security blogs have been set up on the Google-owned Blogger blogging system, some carrying security news items taken from other sites including Aladdin's own website, and all redirecting to unrelated content, with porn and rogue anti-malware software on offer as well as exploits aiming to infect systems with trojans.

'The use of security-related content is clearly designed to draw traffic to the sites, targeting more alert users who monitor developments in the security world to ensure they keep informed about, and protected from, the latest threats,' said John Hawes, Technical Consultant at Virus Bulletin. 'In this case, the stolen news stories seem to have backfired somewhat by attracting unwanted attention from security firms, who will now surely pay close attention to protecting users from the threats being pushed by these sites, and work extra hard to get them blocked or taken down.'

More details of Aladdin's findings are on their research team's blog here, with more coverage in a Network World piece here.

04 February 2008

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