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Spammers Ride on Jackson Death
By: Tech2.com News Staff   |   Jul 02, 2009

Micheal Jackson's death shocked the entire world - it was the end of an era. But even before he has been laid to rest hackers and spammers are using his name and death to spread malware.

Sophos had encountered a mass-mailing worm that spams out messages with the following characteristics:

Subject: Remembering Michael Jackson
Attached file: Michael songs and pictures.zip

The email, which claims to come from sarah@michaeljackson.com, says that the attached ZIP file contains secret songs and photos of Michael Jackson.

Opening the attachment exposes you to infection - and if your computer is hit you will be spreading the worm onto other internet users. Besides spreading via email, the malware is also capable of spreading as an Autorun component on USB memory sticks (an increasingly common trend for malware as use of these devices has become more and more popular).

Sophos detects the malware proactively as Mal/ZipMal-B and Mal/VB-AD, and recommends that users of other anti-virus products ensure that their defences are properly updated.

Though there has been much cybercriminal activity following his death, Michael Jackson was not immune from having his name exploited by hackers when he was alive either.

In 2004 a Trojan horse was spammed out claiming to contain photographic evidence of Jackson abusing a young boy. The following year a malware campaign was spammed out claiming to contain breaking news that the music superstar had committed suicide. Earlier this year, Sophos exposed that scammers had managed to advertise their offers on Jackson's official website promoting his (now cancelled) concerts at the O2 in London.
 
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