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| The postings on usenet claim to point to a home
movie by Michael Jackson. |
Experts at Sophos have warned computer users that a file posing
as a home movie of popstar Michael Jackson is in fact infected by a
malicious Trojan horse.
Thousands of sick messages posted to internet newsgroups last
night encourage computer users to download a file supposedly
containing pictures of Jackson abusing a young boy. In reality, no
such photographs are present but the file can open computers up to
attack from hackers.
A typical message reads as follows:
Subject:
Michael Jackson Home Movie Horror
Message body:
Posted here are the pictures that are going to put Michael
Jackson behind bars for a very long time. Disturbing stills taken
from the home movies shot by Mr Jackson are now circulating the
net. In these pictures here, it can be clearly seen that Mr Jackson
is performing un-natural acts with the boy in question.
<url removed>
The distribution of the Trojan horse follows another attempt to
hit innocent internet users with the Hackarmy Trojan horse earlier this week - in that
instance, the pictures claimed to be compromising pictures of
soccer ace David Beckham.
"Controversy has surrounded Michael Jackson for some years, and
the sick minded hackers behind this latest Trojan horse are
exploiting the public's interest in his Californian court battle,"
said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "Today
a lot of people seek breaking news online and may be at risk of
falling for confidence tricks such as this. The message is simple -
don't trust everything you read on the internet, and ensure you are
not putting your computer and its data into danger."
Ironically, the hackers have chosen to tempt users with the
offer of stills from a Michael Jackson home movie in the same week
that Jackson himself has asked music networks to stop airing a
video by rapper Eminem which presents him in an unflattering
light.
Michael Jackson is the latest in a long line of celebrities to
be used as bait by malware authors and hackers. The promise of
glimpses of pin-ups like Halle Berry, Avril Lavigne, Anna Kournikova, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears or the stars
of 'Sex and the
City' have previously been used to help viruses spread.
However, virus inspiration has come from several other less
glamorous fields. Political leaders such as Margaret Thatcher,
Ronald Reagan, Bill
Clinton, George W Bush and PW Botha join cartoon characters
including Pikachu
and Kyle from
South Park. Even Bill Gates has been used
as the psychological trick to dupe users into opening infected
files.
Sophos continues to recommend computer users practise safe computing as well as running
up-to-date anti-virus software.
More than 100 million users in 150 countries rely on Sophos as the best protection against complex threats and data loss. Sophos is committed to providing security and data protection solutions that are simple to manage, deploy and use and that deliver the industry's lowest total cost of ownership. Sophos offers award-winning encryption, endpoint security, web, email, and network access control solutions backed by SophosLabs - a global network of threat intelligence centers. With more than two decades of experience, Sophos is regarded as a leader in security and data protection by top analyst firms and has received many industry awards.
Sophos is headquartered in Boston, US and Oxford, UK. More information is available at www.sophos.com.