Political Issues Bleed Through the Web
- Tuesday, February 10, 2009, 3:30
- Threat Research
Political spats and issues are once again seen bleeding into cyberspace as notable attacks related to politics were seen today.
The Israeli Legislative Election for 2009 to be held on February 10 was used by spammers as bait for users to download malware on their systems. The election is supposedly to be held in 2010. However, due to the resignation of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as leader of the Kadima party, and the failure of his successor, Tzipi Livni, to form a coalition government, the elections will now be held earlier - informs BBC .
The spam lures receivers of the spammed message to download the malware by posing it as an electronic game to play with, themed in the Israeli Election Competition.
Figure 1. Email inviting people to play the electronic game
The malicious file is housed in a popular web-hosting service provider. This technique buys the malicious file an “immunity” of some kind; the URL leading to the malicious file can not be blocked, since the hosting site used is a legitimate service.
Figure 2.The malicious file posing as a game
The downloaded file is in .zip format and is using the file names game1.exe and game2.exe, bearing the Flash icon. This file is malicious ( TROJ_DROPPER.JCM) which drops an email address harvester ( TROJ_MYDOOM.CV).
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