Spammers Camouflage Trojan to appear like Google+ Hangout Plug-in

Spammers, taking advantage of Google+, which attained some popularity, are distributing fraudulent electronic mails asking recipients to do a check out of Google+ Hangouts via taking down a file, which pretends to be a plug-in for Google Hangout, but actually is malicious, reports Threat Post dated January 26, 2012.

The spam mail, which displays an attractive caption namely "Try Google+ Hangouts NOW!" isn't any promotional e-mail, albeit its perpetrators invite the recipients to Google+ Hangouts, which enable end-users to converse through videos with friends, co-workers or just anybody they prefer.

Security Company BitDefender, within its newly-published report: "Online Threats Analysis," explains how immediately as end-users click on the web-link provided inside the e-mail they get led onto a fake website, which looks just like the download page of Google+ Hangouts. Also, rather than obtain the plug-in for Google+ Hangout, they get an executable file, which really is malicious.

Indeed, Malwarecity.com a security site got one sample of the spam mail that asserts that end-users can "Look and sound users" most appropriately using extremely good video and audio. But, if they hit the button, that'll apparently load the plug-in, a malevolent .exe file is attempted for download through the malware that's actually a Trojan.

Even with concern-induced efforts, applied for maintaining privacy, threats seemingly continue which particularly attack the Google Plus social network ever-since its introduction. The social-networking website's owner, Google has assured that nuisance activities like brand squatting will be prevented, yet malware and assaults specifically related to Google Plus have been prevalent, though restrictively. Nevertheless, that may increase given the future expansion of the emerging social-networking website, echoes Kaspersky the security company in a news service.

Moreover, security researchers note that getting to know about buzz-worthy items and services utilized like lures isn't unknown. According to them, a day can be imagined when the above sort of adverse results emanating from a product's wide acceptance would serve as evidence of worth.

They recommend that users mustn't download or buy software offered through spam mails especially if their sources aren't known for, that could mean ending up with obtaining malware.

Related article: Spammers Continue their Campaigns Successfully

» SPAMfighter News - 2/6/2012