"Travelers, there is no path, paths are made by walking"

Antonio Machado (Antonio Machado ), Spanish Poet
(July 26, 1875, Antonio Machado was born)

Ronaldinho: new bait to spread malware

PandaLabs, Panda Security's malware analysis and detection laboratory, has detected a series of junk mails with the subject "Milan cannot afford Ronaldinho" which actually spread the AntivirusXP2008 adware (see photo here).

The email contains a link that supposedly takes the recipient to a news report. However, if the victim clicks on the link they will be taken to a page with a message encouraging them to install a Flash Player to watch a video with the information. If they do this, they will introduce a copy of the adware into their computer (see image here).

"Cyber-crooks use false news, erotic photos and other topics to trick users into clicking links and running files in order to infect them. This is known as social engineering", explains Luis Corrons, technical director of PandaLabs. "We have recently seen other examples of social engineering used to spread malicious code: a false news report about a car crash suffered by F1 racer Fernando Alonso and a fake UPS email".

AntivirusXP2008 is a fake antivirus. Once installed on the computer, it simulates a system scan and reports infections that actually do not exist. Finally, it encourages users to buy the product to remove those infections.

"This type of Trojan is coherent with the current malware dynamic, where cyber-crooks are no longer after fame or notoriety, but simply seek to benefit financially from their activity", explains Corrons.