Hackers spread virus through fake CNN emails

January 10, 1:14 PMNY Consumer Affairs ExaminerAsa Aarons

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Leave it to computer hackers to find a way to profit from a war. But hackers are apparently using the Gaza conflict and a fake CNN news site to infiltrate computers and steal passwords.

"Malicious software or malware takes passwords for online banking sites, online shopping carts, e-mail and chat programs and FTP sites and sends them to a computer in the Ukraine," explained Gary Warner, director of research in computer forensics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

The UAB Spam Data Mine, which collects millions of e-mails and analyzes them for emerging threats, began receiving messages about the conflict in the Middle East early Thursday. Designed to look like a message from CNN, the spam "uses realistic news headlines to lure users to websites infected with malware," Warner said. It’s spreading viruses similar to the type distributed in the past by the fake Obama acceptance speech video, an alleged Wachovia merger letter and the spoofed Classmates.com reunion invitations.

Don't count on your anti-virus program to detect it: a test by UAB students found only 11 of 38 products tested correctly identified the virus. Warner's advice: If you want to read headlines from CNN, go to the news organization's website yourself. "Don't open links in any e-mail received from an unknown source," he said.