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June 03, 2005
Trojan claims Osama captured
E-mail messages claiming to contain pictures of Osama Bin Laden’s arrest contain a Microsoft Windows virus.
Anti-virus companies have been catching large number of the fake mail messages since 1 June and it is feared that the high-level of interest in the al-Qaeda leader’s whereabouts could result in a large outbreak of the virus.
Several versions of the message are circulating, but all versions claim that the arrest will shortly be reported on TV news channels, including CNN and the BBC.
One version of the malicious message claims to contain pictures stolen from a military TV channel. Another directs people to a website holding videos of the capture.
Opening the message attachments or visiting the website will result in a version of the Psyme trojan being installed on the user’s PC. This exploits a vulnerability in Windows 2000, 95, 98, ME, NT, XP and Windows Server 2003. Users are advised to update their version of Windows to close the loophole.
This is the third time that Osama Bin Laden’s name has used to trick people into opened an email attachment containing a virus. In July 2004, an e-mail was circulated that claimed to link to a website holding a video of Bin Laden's suicide. Another virus, circulating in November 2004, was hidden in a fake video message from the al-Qaeda leader.
Posted by at June 3, 2005 11:40 PM
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