Bogus Jackson suicide used to spread a Trojan
by Nikola Strahija on June 13th, 2005 A spam campaign that claims Michael Jackson has attempted suicide is being used to lure surfers into infecting their PCs with a Trojan horse.
Typical subject lines of the messages state: "Re: Suicidal attempt" and feature message text such as "Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt. They suggest this attempt follows the last claim was made against the king of pop. 46 years old Michael has left pre-suicid note which describes and interpretes some of his sins. Read more..."
Users who click on the link visit a maliciously constructed website that attempts to exploit well-known Windows vulnerabilities to install a Trojan called Borobt-Gen.
-If you click on the link, the website displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson, said Carole Theriault, security consultant for Sophos. -However, this is a diversionary tactic, because behind the scenes the website is downloading malware onto the user's computer without their knowledge.’
