The malware, Koobface, is designed to spread itself by checking to see if person is logged into a social network. It will then post fraudulent messages on the person’s Twitter account trying to entice friends to click the link, which then leads to a malicious Web site that tries to infect the PC.
The popular microblogging service has had a strong impact as a new communication platform, such as providing on-the-ground insight from participants in the recent protests over the presidential election in Iran. But it is also being targeted by fraudsters and hackers, who using it as a way to infect people’s PCs with malicious software.
Twitter is the latest site to be targeted by a Koobface variant, said Rik Ferguson, senior security advisor for Trend Micro. Other sites have included Bebo, Hi5, Friendster and LiveJournal, according to the U.S. Computer Emergency Readiness Team.
“Koobface has a long, inglorious history and has been relatively successful at infecting machines,” Ferguson said.
At least a couple hundred accounts have been infected by Koobface’s latest efforts, according to Ryan Flores, an advanced threats researcher, writing on Trend’s blog. When it made its first appearance a couple of weeks ago on Twitter, Koobface was just sending out three shortened URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) leading to malware. Flores wrote that Koobface is sending out more bad links this time around. (Full story here…)
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