It's Not Tuesday, But Technology Alert
February 16th, 2008 by xformed
It seems there is and organized effort from China to infect computer systems via consumer devices. Wow…our friends would do that? Like our friends the Saudis?
Anyhow, from the San Francisco Chronicle – “Virus from China the gift that keeps on giving:”
Deborah Gage, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, February 15, 2008
An insidious computer virus recently discovered on digital photo frames has been identified as a powerful new Trojan Horse from China that collects passwords for online games – and its designers might have larger targets in mind.“It is a nasty worm that has a great deal of intelligence,” said Brian Grayek, who heads product development at Computer Associates, a security vendor that analyzed the Trojan Horse.
The virus, which Computer Associates calls Mocmex, recognizes and blocks antivirus protection from more than 100 security vendors, as well as the security and firewall built into Microsoft Windows. It downloads files from remote locations and hides files, which it names randomly, on any PC it infects, making itself very difficult to remove. It spreads by hiding itself on photo frames and any other portable storage device that happens to be plugged into an infected PC.
The authors of the new Trojan Horse are well-funded professionals whose malware has “specific designs to capture something and not leave traces,” Grayek said. “This would be a nuclear bomb” of malware.
By studying how the code is constructed and how it’s propagated, Computer Associates has traced the Trojan to a specific group in China, Grayek said. He would not name the group.
[…]
Read it all. And, BTW, you have been warned!
More details: over 67K variations of the malware have been detected, and in checking some of the picture frames, other, older trojans were found.
Target was selling a model that has beeen pulled. I wonder why?
Let’s be careful out there…
Tracked back @ Cao’s Blog Down in the Valley dvdrip
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