Malware From Celebrity Video: But I Thought I Just Installed a Video Player!

Erin Andrews is a popular ESPN sports reporter in the United States who recently made headlines outside the sports arena. In an unfortunate case of privacy invasion, a video purportedly capturing private moments of the reporter through a hotel room peephole was released on the Internet. The video generated a considerable amount of news.
In our world of anti-malware, we follow a simple formula, “Media + Celebrity = Watch out for malware”. Whether you are an eager fan or just someone surfing on the web for news, beware. An Internet search, combined with the right keywords on your favorite search engine, is expected to lead you to malware. In our investigation on the following case, it has led us to a malicious website hosted at .report-cnn.com/.

Although it was made to look like a real one, this website is NOT related to CNN. At the time of research, it was still live and distributing malware using the “you need a video player” technique that has been repeatedly used in similar attempts in the past. Using this method, the user is often enticed to an attractive video but must install a new video player program.
The victim clicks on a link that allows downloads and installs an executable program which subsequently installs malware. It usually follows with a pop-up message reporting that the downloaded video player program is (continue reading...)