Fergie's Tech Blog

Turn Your Computer into a Zombie: Try to Unsubscribe from this Cell Phone Dating Service Scam

From the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).

The FBI has been alerted to a newly discovered malware located at www.irrealhost.com. Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner's consent.

The identified malware lures victims to the site through the receipt of an SMS message on their cellular phone. An SMS message is a Short Message Service that permits the sending of short messages, also known as text messages. The message thanks the recipient for subscribing to a dating service, which is fictitious, and states the subscription fee of $2.00 per day will be automatically charged to their cellular phone bill until their subscription is canceled at the online site.

Recipients visiting the site www.irrealhost.com to cancel their subscription are redirected to a screen where they are prompted to enter their mobile phone number, then given the option to run a program which is supposed to remove their subscription to the dating service.

When the run option is selected on the Web site, the executable adds several files to the host and changes registry settings to open a backdoor port and lower Windows security settings. The host file is modified to prevent the victim from browsing to popular anti-virus Web sites. The executable also turns the infected computer into a "zombie" network, which can be remotely controlled by the hackers.

posted by Fergie @ 7/19/2006 05:16:00 AM