Monday, November 06, 2006
Wikipedia Used To Transmit Virus
A Wikipedia "page" linked to a fake fix for a new version of an old malicious Windows worm.
But instead of curing a bug, those installing the fix would be infected by a new Windows virus.
The booby-trapped page on the German version of the online encyclopaedia has now been removed.
"The very openness of websites like Wikipedia - which allow anyone to edit pages - makes them terrific, but can also make them less trustworthy," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos. "In this case, the article in question wasn't just misleading, it was downright malicious."
The page hijacked by the virus creators was about a new variant of the Windows Blaster worm. This malicious program debuted in 2003 and caught out many PC users.
Included on the page was a link to a supposed patch that, once downloaded and installed, would protect against this new version. However, anyone installing this on a Windows machine would infect themselves with a virus.
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