Social engineering: the latest chapter

A user notified us about a suspicious link being spread via MSN. Normally we would assume that there’s a new IM-Worm out there, since we’ve had quite a few of them this year.

However, the link itself attracted our attention:

http://www.vbulettin.com/[removed]

Naturally, anyone who follows information security knows Virus Bulletin: one of the oldest and most respected publications in the AV industry. Getting a VB award is a must for any reputable antivirus.

No, their site has not been hacked. If you read the URL carefully, you’ll notice that the word bulletin is misspelled – bulettin. Moreover, Virus Bulletin can be found on-line at a slightly different URL: www.virusbtn.com.

Most of us only scan URLs at best, and the malicious version is certainly close enough to the real thing to fool people. Virus writers are at it again: masquerading as a respected AV publication is a good way to get people to trust you.

Oh, before I forget… a new version of Backdoor.Win32.Landis is lurking at this link. If you receive this link, don’t click on it. There’s no IM-Worm involved, by the way – Landis sends the link out on command from its owner.

We’ve added detection for this new Trojan to our databases, so update just in case.

Kaspersky researchers have discovered new Mirage Kitten attacks using previously undocumented malware families: NodeRabbit in Node.js and PollCat in JavaScript.

Our experts discovered a new CoolClient backdoor variant with a kernel-mode rootkit driver that hides malicious processes, files, and network connections from security tools and threat analysts.

Kaspersky experts break down a new Armored Likho campaign that poses as a fundraising efforts and delivers a new Still Toolkit aimed at stealing Telegram data and eavesdropping on victims.

Kaspersky researchers reveal previously undocumented malware attributed to Mirage Kitten (UNC1549, Smoke Sandstorm, Nimbus Manticore): NightLedger backdoor, ArcBridge, and BridgeHead tunneling tools.