Ebola virus turns a threat for PCs too

Beware of Ebola virus e-mails! Cashing in on the Ebola virus syndrome, cyber criminals are using the fear of the virus as bait leading to malware infections. Anti-virus experts have already found three malware operations and one phishing campaign using the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa as a social engineering theme.

Two of the malware use the most common and logical route of email. However, the subject line of the emails is quite enticing so as to make victims open the report, only to get an infection of a Trojan malware.While one email gives a fake report of Ebola virus, the second one is being circulated with a subject of ‘Stop Ebola now’, promising some information serving as a guide to prevent the virus attack.

Apart from infecting the victim’s computer with a Trojan virus, the malware also lodges itself into their web browsers so as to gain access to various passwords and files. The third campaign piggybacks on Zmapp, a promising Ebola drug still in an experimental stage. The crooks entice victims with an email claiming the Ebola virus has been cured and asking users to share the news widely.

The phishing campaign, however, impersonates CNN with breaking Ebola news. It gives a brief story outline and includes links to an “untold story” with promises about “How-to” precaution information and a list “targeted” regions. If the user clicks on the links in the email they are sent to a Web page where they are asked to input their login credentials of their preferred email provider.

If the user performs this action, their email login credentials are directly sent to phishers after which the victim is redirected to the real CNN home page.

Asking all users to be on guard for unsolicited and suspicious emails, anti-virus software major Symantec advised, “If you are not sure of the email’s legitimacy then don’t respond to it, and avoid clicking on links in the message or opening attachments.”