Spam + Virus = Zombie PC

Filed in archive Malware on December 18, 2006

The newest threat to our PC security is a malware named Medbot, which infects computers worldwide, and turns them into image-spam sending zombies. DPM News Agency via Security News Portal reports:

"Arriving in a spam email containing images selling pharmaceuticals, such as Viagra and Cialis, MEDBOT is a malware package composed of a Trojan downloader, a copy of the Trojan, and a worm. The worm drops the downloader to the shared folders, while the hidden copy acts as a backup in case the main Trojan is removed from the system. When the system is infected the Trojan downloader connects to several URLs and downloads updated copies of the malware package.
It may also download variants and other malicious files. It not only infects computers with these recent variants, but also allows the malware to improve itself by replacing earlier versions with updated ones. Thus the downloader Trojan may receive updated routines like network propagation or new backdoors."

All of this makes the malware almost impossible to get rid of or detect efficiently. Security experts think this, as two more dangerous malware pieces under names TROJ_STRAT.GN, WORM_STRAT.GN are work of the same Chinese spam group.

As always, be careful not to open any attachments which come with a suspicious looking e-mails of from senders you don't know. Employ any of the techniques to protect your inbox from spam piling up and keep your anti-virus updated.