News - Security Issues

Hackers use Obama win for massive malware campaign

Hackers have launched a major malware campaign that tries to trick users into installing an update to Adobe Systems Inc.'s Flash, but actually plants a Trojan horse on unprotected PCs.

The malware blitz stems from spam messages touting Sen. Barack Obama's victory, and offers up a link to what is supposedly a site sporting election results. When users click on the link, however, they're taken to a fake site that demands the user install an update to Adobe's Flash Player before viewing a video. Rather than a Flash update, what's actually downloaded is a Trojan horse that compromises the PC then floods the machine with more malware.