There have been many interesting ways hackers have gone about infecting people's computers, but this one is possibly the first to use real-world tactics to trick users. BBC News is reporting that a group of hackers have begun placing parking tickets on people's cars, that leads them to a fake website and instructs them to download a toolbar that will (supposedly) show the user photos of their car. The ticket said that users could do this to "view pictures with information about your parking preferences".
Obviously, the toolbar is actually a Trojan horse that activates upon reboot, telling users to download fake anti-virus software from a certain website. Lenny Zeltser, an anti-virus analyst, explains that, "The initial program installed itself as a browser helper object (BHO) for Internet Explorer that downloaded a component from childhe.com and attempted to trick the victim into installing a fake anti-virus scanner from bestantispyware securityscan.com and protectionsoft warecheck.com."
The reason that this is more dangerous to users than usual is the fact that most un-tech savvy people will believe a parking ticket, of course. This attack took place in Grand Forks, North Dakota, but is expected that this will become more widespread now.
28 Comments - Add comment