http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7389529.stm

 

 

Fake media file snares PC users

 

 

The fake file claims to be an mp3 of Girls Aloud

 

 

 

Almost 500,000 people have been caught out by a booby-trapped media file, says security firm McAfee.

The fake file poses as a music track, short video or movie and has been widely seeded on file-sharing networks to snare victims.

McAfee said the fake media file outbreak was the largest it had seen for about three years.

Those running the fake file get bombarded with pop-up ads and risk compromising the safety of their PC.

The fake file or trojan has been widely distributed on the eDonkey and Limewire file-sharing networks.

The file has many names and is written in different languages to trick people into downloading it.

The titles make the file appear to be music tracks, pornography and full versions of popular movies.

Anyone downloading the trojan and trying to run it is asked to install a codec that will play the supposed media.

Instead of playing the media, running the file installs a bundle of adware that plagues a user with pop-ups.

Included in the bundle is an MP3 media player that will only play the tracks included with it.

McAfee said seeing such a large outbreak was rare because hi-tech criminals typically prefer to target their malicious creations to keep numbers manageable and to avoid detection.

In the last seven days McAfee said the trojan had been found on more than 500,000 of the PCs that notify the company when a malicious file is downloaded.

It added that, so far, only 10% seem to have gone as far as to install the fake codec and be plagued with pop-ups.

Other security companies have seen the trojan but not in such large numbers as McAfee. Only those using Windows are vulnerable to the malicious program. McAfee urged users to update their security software and to be wary when using file-sharing networks.

 

 

 

 

Just a nice little reminder about the evil of Limewire... gah!

Yes I have known about this for a long time,but I know what I'm doing on there,unlike some people.

Yes I have known about this for a long time,but I know what I'm doing on there,unlike some people.

 

Same here. I think you may have already read my post about learning the hard way what to avoid, but I'm VERY careful and aware now.

 

Even so, limewire's evil,lol...useful but evil,

I haven't really used limewire in years. Google is so much better.

 

Scary stuff.

google is more reliable i reckon, although even thats not 100% safe.

buy your CD's people!!! :D

^Ah but sometimes in my case you cannot buy the CD,then the only option is to download it!

^Ah but sometimes in my case you cannot buy the CD,then the only option is to download it!

 

Same. I use it for rare tracks and live stuff. But I don't use it often anymore.

hehehe :sneaky:

You use it Dave?

Nope, I don't want crap on my computer

I don't have crap on my computer as far as I know...:shifty:

^ Now that's crap right there!

Even more shocking - I heard someone once downloaded a Britney Spears file on Limewire and got ............................ a Britney Spears song!!:stunned:

They've been in therapy ever since!!:rolleyes:

^Hehe

i downloaded what i thought was "muse covering radiohead's creep"....but it was just radiohead playing creep acoustic :(

i downloaded what i thought was "muse covering radiohead's creep"....but it was just radiohead playing creep acoustic :(

 

LOL i did that once too.

when i first got limewire on my computer i recognized how BAD it was. so i uninstalled it asap, since then i've had ARES. its pretty good. i hope i don't get any of those trojans on my computer. *tear tear