Viruses/Worms News

Waledac variant uses SMS Spy social engineering theme

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Cybercriminals spreading the Waledac malware through spam are trying a new social engineering trick, asking users if they want to download an attached program to allow users to read another person's SMS messages online.

A web security alert issued yesterday said the Waledac variant has been spotted in the wild in thousands of spam emails including download files with alternating filenames, such as sms.exe, freetrial.exe and smstrap.exe. Not all major anti virus detectors had detected the new themem, the security alert said.

The text from one spam email carrying the Waledac worm offers a "free 30-day trial" and reads: "Do you want to test your partner or just to read somebody's SMS? This program is exactly what you need then."

This type of spam spreads the worm with what is called social engineering, by enticing users to download malware or visit malicious sites by exploiting curiosity and interest in popular topics, breaking news or products with a popular theme like Valentine's Day, according to web security experts.

Some security researchers have said cybercriminals spreading the worm have also used geolocation to customize malicious websites to reflect the location of the visitor's computer.