Storm worm now targeting forums, blogs and instant messengers

Storm worm now targeting forums, blogs and instant messengers

Dmitri Alperovitch, a principal research scientist at Secure Computing Corp. has claimed that a new variant of the Storm worm is now capable of targeting blogs and forums.

The new variant of the worm has a new component in the variant enables it to analyze network traffic on the infected computer. The worm then inserts a link to the malicious site into text. This message is then posted on sites like blogs, forums.

Web users are fell for this message and click on the malicious link can get their own machines infected with the worm.

Alperovitch added: “It’s pretty dangerous because it’s using social engineering in a very successful way. It’s infecting Web posts that come from people who users trust and regularly discuss useful topics with. Imagine a forum where you are used to having good discussions and now they show you a link for what they seem to be saying is a fun video. Wouldn’t you click on it? A lot of people would.”

Eric Chien, a senior software engineer at Symantec added in a blog post on this worm: “Message board spam is nothing new, but what is different about this message board spam is the spam text is actually integrated into legitimate messages posted by real users. Don’t click on unrelated links in forum postings, e-mail, or IM [Instant Messaging], and definitely avoid executing any files you receive from unsolicited links. If you notice that in your own e-mail, forum postings, or IMs you are sending out odd additional text or URLs, you are likely infected.”