Mac Defender Malware Circulating through Facebook

Scam artists are taking advantage of the famous scandal involving former IMF boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn to circulate a hazardous piece of Mac-specific malware, as reported by Security News DAILY on May 31, 2011.

The body of the message points to the story of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn who is being accused in New York for charges that he attempted to rape a hotel maid. To lure users, this one positions right on the top. It's been, certainly, a quite significant news story - and several people have been following the complete matter with a great interest. And this is the only reason why the scam artists have utilized the guarantee of a video as an attraction to con users.

Commenting on the matter, Graham Cluley, Senior Technology Consultant at the security company, Sophos stated that, a video is presently making rounds on the social networking website, Facebook purporting to have an actual footage of Strauss-Kahn sexually abusing a hotel maid, as reported by eSecurity Planet on May 31, 2011.

People who are aware of what they're doing will identify this for surely - a fake headline and the guarantee of a video is utilized to entrap users to click on the link which, directs them to a website propagating malware - in this particular instance Mac Defender. Once the person has clicked on the link, the link along with the same message also gets posted onto the Facebook wall of the user, thereby assisting in finding the next prey.

As per Cluley, the link first directs the person to a footage from a pornographic movie, and then to a bogus antivirus page that tries to download the harmful MacDefender Trojan on users' machines.

As per Sophos, in several ways this is a brilliant piece of social engineering to scare innocent Mac users into downloading the software and then furnishing their credit card details.

Further, commenting on the same case, Matt Liebowitz, from Security News Daily stated that, while the Facebook message is distasteful in its own way, its actual deceitful nature is highlighted after users click on the link to view the video, as reported by eSecurity Planet on May 31, 2011.

Related article: Mac OS X Devoid of Malware, Vexing Experts

» SPAMfighter News - 6/9/2011