According to a McAfee Avert Labs blog posting, Google's free code-hosting Web site, an online resource for software designers, was being used by Internet con artists to distribute a "trojan." A trojan is an application used by online con artists to hide malicious software.
Trojans usually have a link, disguised as something else, in order to entice potential victims to click on it. In this case, a link to download the malicious, data-stealing software was disguised as a legitimate video player. In the case reported by McAfee, the trojan on the Google Code site was being used to steal passwords. Google has since removed the malware from its site.
Trojans Hide Malicious Software
According to the McAfee Avert Labs blog posting, clicking on a link for a video advertising a "Live Free Sex Movie" brought users instead to a fake codec download site. If a user clicked on the link repeated times, they were directed to an adult porn site. (It is not uncommon for malware to be associated with porn sites. Web surfers who frequent such sites should be forewarned.)
This incident is similar to one reported by RSA, a provider of security solutions for businesses. In the RSA incident, the trojan was also disguised as a legitimate-looking video player. According to a RSA blog entry:
"The Trojan that is launched when the link to the fake software installation is accessed is called a Trojan 'SSL stealer' that captures financial and personal information of the infected user found on their computer."
These incidents only highlight the need for users of the Internet to be cautious when downloading anything online. As in the case with the RSA incident, much of the malware delivered by trojan is seen in mass e-mailings called SPAM. Internet-savvy web users are well aware of the danger of downloading software or clicking on links from unknown sites.
What this Google Code incident demonstrates is that not even software developers are immune from the attacks of Internet scammers. This incident also demonstrates that even venerable online institutions, such as Google, are not immune.
Avoid Falling Prey to Malicious Software
What was written in the RSA incident applies just as well for the Google Code incident, and for the multitude of other incidents that are sure to come:
Do not download software updates from third-party sites. Users that are told that they need to update software for a media player or a document reader, for instance, should go to the company's Web site by typing in the URL and not update software by using a link on someone else's site.
In the end, the only way to avoid being taken in by a scam is by being informed, and staying aware of the threats.
Zakiya Lathan - Zakiya Lathan has worked in broadcast news as a web producer and online journalist for CBS affiliate KTVA-TV in Anchorage, Alaska. She has ...
