New IM worm chats with intended victims | CNET News.com
So here's my question - given the intelligence of most AOL users, how would they know the difference between a bot and a "person?" Most unsolicited IMs I get are made up of letters such as "R U M or F" or "How R U?" Could it be that the bot is actually brighter than the average AOL user? :-)
New IM worm chats with intended victims | CNET News.com:
You can now instant message with a worm.
A new worm that targets users of America Online's AOL Instant Messenger is believed to be the first that actually chats with the intended victim to dupe the target into activating a malicious payload, IM security vendor IMlogic warned Tuesday.
According to IMlogic, the worm, dubbed IM.Myspace04.AIM, has arrived in instant messages that state: "lol thats cool" and included a URL to a malicious file "clarissa17.pif." When unsuspecting users have responded, perhaps asking if the attachment contained a virus, the worm has replied: "lol no its not its a virus", IMlogic said.
The malicious file disables security software, installs a backdoor and tweaks system files, the company said. Then it starts sending itself to contacts on the victim's buddy list.