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Text Messaging Used as Malware Lure
Posted on Mon, Jun 26, 2006    Archived: Thu, Oct 12, 2006 
eWeek.com - June 23, 2006
This threat is not known to be wide spread, however due to the new method of attracting victims it appears worthwhile to post as a warning.

From eWeek.com - June 23, 2006

"Botnet herders have found a crafty new way to lure computer users to maliciously rigged Web sites—via text messaging on cell phones.

The latest social engineering trick is to send SMS (short messaging service) alerts to mobile phones with a warning that the target has subscribed to an online dating service that racked up expensive charges on cell phone bills."

When visiting this site the user is guided through a process to "unregister" from the dating service (for which the web looks official). The unregister instructions result in a Trojan being installed on the user's computer. No security flaws are used other than convincing the user that the threat is real and that they need to do something.

Click here to read the full eWeek article...


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