http://software.silicon.com/malware/0,3800003100,39164505,00.htm
Hackers coveting online video - McAfee
Media malware is next big thing...
By Tom Espiner
Published: Monday 4 December 2006
Security vendor McAfee has predicted the increasing popularity
of video on the web will make it a future target for hackers.
The use of video formats on social-networking sites will attract
malware writers, the company claims. As people become more
reluctant to open email attachments from anonymous sources,
hackers will target users who open media files instead.
The functionality of online video, which includes pop-up ads and
URL redirects, will become "ideal tools of destruction for
malware writers", McAfee claimed in a statement. It said: "As
video-sharing networks on the web proliferate, the potential
capture of a large audience will incite malware writers to
exploit these channels for monetary gain.
"In combination, these issues make malicious coders likely to
achieve a high degree of effectiveness with media malware."
The so-called W32/Realor worm, discovered in early November
2006, launches malicious websites without user interaction,
potentially exposing users to pass-capture malware on the sites.
The so-called Exploit-WinAmpPLS installs spyware but requires
user interaction.
McAfee anticipates that businesses will prefer users not to
download video onto work PCs.
McAfee security analyst Greg Day said: "A lot of companies
currently have verbal policies [prohibiting video downloads]. We
expect more formal enforcement to come into place."
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