World of Warcraft players are being targeted by hackers exploiting flaws in how Windows handles animated cursors, a flaw which has recently been patched by Microsoft. Warcraft players seem to be one of the targets because accounts for the game are potentially worth significant sums of money. Security firms tracking how criminal hackers are exploiting the cursor flaw suspect there are many websites hosting the code (voluntarily or not) that can be used to take over vulnerable PCs. A large number of criminally-minded hacking gangs are cashing in on the flaw. Research by security firm Symantec suggests that the raw value of a WoW account is now higher than a credit card and its associated verification data. One card can be sold for up to $6 (£3) suggests Symantec, but a WoW account will be worth at least $10. Microsoft said there was a chance that attacks via the vulnerability would increase but had seen little evidence of widespread use yet.
News source: BBC News
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