iTWire - Attack follows Acrobat update

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Attack follows Acrobat update

by Stephen Withers
Thursday, 25 October 2007
! Windows users who failed to apply this week's update to Adobe Acrobat and Reader are being targeted by criminal elements. Related stories VMware foul-up causes premature licence expiry Mac OS X 10.5.5: the end is in sight! Patch frenzy erupts after August Patch Tuesday Microsoft's Patch Tuesday to hit users big and hard China's Bejing Olympics webcaster goes with Adobe Flash Malformed PDF files purporting to be invoices or other financial documents are arriving in spam emails. If the files are opened on an unpatched system with Internet Explorer 7 on Windows XP or Server 2003, the exploit disables the Windows Firewall, then fetches a downloader program which in turn installs a rootkit. According to reports, at least one of the servers involved in the attack is associated with the Russian Business Network, a group that has been linked to other major malware outbreaks. "So far we have seen a fair number of emails containing this new Trojan in the wild," said Hon Lau, senior security response manager at Symantec. "It is likely that Trojan.Pidief.A has been spammed out in targeted attacks on specific business organizations." Hon Lau and other experts are recommending that users apply Adobe's patch promptly, update their antivirus definitions, and treat incoming PDF attachments with particular caution. Please enable JavaScript in your browser to post your comment! Tags See All Tags Email Internet Malware Security Software Stephen Withers Windows Get stories like this delivered daily - FREE - subscribe now