Fergie's Tech Blog

Spammers Bypass Filters With SWF File Redirects

Via SC Magazine US.

Spammers are stepping up their use of Shockwave Flash (SWF) file redirects to avoid detection, security researchers said this week.

Alex Eckelberry, president of Sunbelt Software, a security software provider, said the SWF files embed a barely visible box that pushes the installment of a trojan.

“Previously what they have done was have a direct link to the trojan,” Eckelberry told SCMagazineUS.com on Thursday. “But because those URLs are now blacklisted so rapidly, the spammers needed a way to bypass the filters. They use these little SWF files.”

Like other spammer ploys, the purpose of the SWF redirect is to trick users into installing malicious software.

posted by Fergie @ 8/28/2008 04:50:00 PM