JB Hi-Fi Website Found Serving Malware

Hackers compromised websites of one of the largest retailers in Australia, JB Hi-Fi, in the last week of November. Users, in hundreds, have been complaining of malware attacks and related other issues since the evening of November 27, 2009.

The visitors to jbhifi.com.au were redirected to Chinese websites that contained malware. Hosted on same server, the New Zealand website of JB Hi-Fi also faced similar problems.

Users having completely patched Internet browsers and up-to-date anti-virus software would have received alerts regarding the security issue as they visited the page. However, visitors who are not equipped with these security solutions could be compromised stealthily any moment.

According to a security expert, the website appeared to be compromised after the hackers infiltrated the server, which was used to show ads on the site. Since then, that particular server has been taken offline, but the number of users already affected before this decision was made remains unclear as of now.

In this context, researchers commented that legitimate websites are now increasingly being hit by cyber crooks, as the netizens become more cautious while surfing the unknown portions of the Web.

According to the news published by The Sydney Morning Herald on December 1, 2009, one of the popular methods that hackers use to place malware on authentic websites is to directly buy ads on the websites or infiltrate the networks which are used to sell ads, said Paul Ducklin, head of technology, Sophos.

He further added that these crooks hack the website indirectly by means of social engineering, rather than hacking it directly by technical assaults. For instance, they present themselves as potential advertising giants, and falsely agree to the terms and conditions required to be fulfilled for a chain of paid advertisements. The moment these ads are purchased, hackers inject them with malware.
In a similar case that occurred in September 2009, hackers managed to purchase ad space from The New York Times, and then the visitors who accessed the website were served with malicious content.

Finally, according to experts, if users believe that their PCs don't want the protection of anti-virus as they don't visit unknown and malicious websites, then they are wrong as even the renowned and trusted websites can be infected.

Related article: Job Hunters Conned By Mystery Shopping Scammers

» SPAMfighter News - 12/8/2009