MySpace hit by worm, adware and phishing

Exploit in QuickTime file infecting social site profile pages.

A malicious QuickTime movie file is spreading across social networking site MySpace, embedding itself in the user profile pages of infected victims and changing links to point to phishing sites.

The worm, variously dubbed JS/Quickspace or JS/Qspace, uses JavaScript capabilities built into Apple's QuickTime player, together with the design of the MySpace site, to spread when the movie is opened - often merely by visiting a user page carrying the file. A QuickTime function allows JavaScript to be run from a remote site which, along with embedding the movie, places faked links and navigation bars on profile pages, leading to spoofed MySpace login pages hosted remotely. These are used to gather MySpace logins, which are then defaced with the doctored links and the malicious movie file, and used to spread link spam to contacts on the site, spreading the infection or pushing adware.

Blog entries analysing the problem can be found at F-Secure, McAfee, or Spywareguide.com. Technical details of the worm are also available from Symantec or Trend Micro.

05 December 2006

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