Trojan attack hits networks worldwide - News - Security

To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

--------------------------------------------------------------
This story was printed from ZDNet Australia.
--------------------------------------------------------------

Trojan attack hits networks worldwide

By Dan Ilett, Special to ZDNet
July 08, 2005
URL: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/security/soa/Trojan-attack-hits-networks-worldwide/0,130061744,139201337,00.htm

Security experts have warned that a high-level outbreak of Trojan horse programs is hitting networks around the world.

E-mail security company MessageLabs said it has blocked 54,000 copies of new Downloader Trojans since 02:00(BST) on Thursday.

Alex Shipp, senior antivirus technologist for MessageLabs, said: "They are pretty run of the mill -- they use e-mail subjects that have been used before. But we're detecting them from all over the place."

The e-mails, which contain the Trojan horse programs Downloader.ABC and .XZ, purport to be a spam report from an IT administrator. The messages request people run an attached file to prevent their e-mail account from being shut down. MessageLabs said people could be fooled into opening the attachments, which -- when run -- open a backdoor on the infected computer for hackers to use.

MessageLabs said in a statement both Trojans have the same e-mail characteristics and rated the outbreak level as "high".

The message carrying the Trojans reads:

"Your e-mail account was used to send a huge amount of unsolicited spam messages during the recent week. If you could please take 5-10 minutes out of your online experience and confirm the attached document so you will not run into any future problems with the online service.

"If you choose to ignore our request, you leave us no choice but to cancel your membership.

"Virtually yours, Network Administrator Team"

Silicon.com's Dan Ilett reported from London. For more coverage from Silicon.com, click here.