Hackers Exploit Microsoft Flaw to Spam Porn Image of Celebrity

IT security firm Sophos is encouraging computer users to patch a critical flaw in Microsoft Windows that handles ANI files or animated cursors as hackers manipulate the bug by spamming out e-mails. These e-mails associate to professional party lady Paris Hilton and intense actress Jenna Jameson.

The spam mail shows subject as "Hot pictures of Paris Hilton nude" and actually contains a pornographic image of actress Jenna Jameson and no pictures of celebrity party host.

Clicking on the image links, the process redirects the recipient to a malicious website that hosts Iffy-B Trojan horse. The Trojan program further takes the recipient to another malicious code that attempts to exploit the Windows flaw.

It is believed that this recent attack is by those same hackers who spammed out pictures of Britney Spears dressed in scanty clothes during first week of April 2007. These hackers had exploited the vulnerability in Microsoft then too. The attack followed the news about seeing Paris Hilton and Jenna Jameson celebrating Jameson's birthday at some trendy club in Los Angeles around the same time in April 2007.

The problem arises for those businesses and consumers who have not yet installed the patch to safeguard their systems against the vulnerability. For, if they click on such unsolicited e-mails without the patch, they could encounter a dangerous malware infection, said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. Vnunet.com published Cluley's statement on April 12, 2007.

Last week Microsoft released a patch for the flaw. However, hackers are persistently trying to entice users with word to deliver nude pictures and they seem determined to exploit the security hole for some more time.

According to Sophos experts this is another instance of using Paris Hilton as bait to trap unwary PC users into the malicious infection. In February 2005, two bulk mailing worms masqueraded posing X-rated shots of Hilton. There have been previous events of promised glimpses of other trendy celebrities like Britney Spears, Julia Roberts, Avril Lavigne, Halle Berry, Anna Kournikova, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lopez and the pin-ups of 'Sex and the City' to thrust viruses and their infection.

Related article: Hackers Redirect Windows Live Search to Malicious Sites

» SPAMfighter News - 4/20/2007