Hackers tap in to Obamamania
Thursday, November 6. 2008
Hackers seeking to exploit the global interest in Barack Obama’s sweeping election victory have bought their way to the top of the Google results page.
For most of this afternoon, searches involving the keyword Obama generated a sponsored link reading “Download Now” at the top of the results page. People who clicked on the link would reach a web page infected with malicious software.
Security experts confirmed that the site could compromise PC users’ security.
“The website is infected with a malicious i-frame,” Graham Cluley, the senior technology consultant at the online security company Sophos, said. “This code then downloads further malware onto your PC, including something called Mal/Pdfex-B.
“Ultimately this code is designed to compromise your computer and allow hackers to have remote control over your PC.”
Unlike early virus writers, who were motivated mainly by the desire for notoriety, today’s hackers work for profit.
Once they have gained access to a computer, they will search for potentially lucrative data such as banking passwords and credit card numbers. They may also use the network of PCs they control to launch co-ordinated attacks on web businesses that refuse to co-operate with extortion demands.
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