Monks with bullhorn addressing protesters in Yangon.
Picture by AFP via The New York Times
Here’s how: according to Sophos, an IT security and control firm, hackers are exploiting the crisis in Myanmar to spread infection via email message carrying malicious attachment.
The email, which claims to be a message of support for monks and other protesters in Myanmar from Dalai Lama, reads as follows:
Dear Friends & Colleagues,
Please find enclosed a massage from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in support of the recent pro democracy demonstrations taking place in Burma. This is for your information and can be distributed as you see fit.
Best wishes.
Tenzin Taklha
Joint Secretary
Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama
Sophos experts note that to add even more credibility to the message and to encourage a greater number of victims to open the attachment, a link to official website of the Dalai Lama is included.
Trojan horse
In reality, however, it carries a malicious attack designed to infect the recipient’s PC, the firm said.
When users open the attached document (filename: hhdl burma_001.doc), it attempts to exploit a Word vulnerability which in turn tries to download a Trojan horse onto the victim’s PC.
Internet shut down
There were reports of the junta trying to stop news coming out of the country by shutting down internet cafes and controlling computer users’ access to the net.
“People around the world are hungry to hear about the latest situation in the country and support the pro-democracy movement, and may be tempted to read this so-called letter from the Dalai Lama,” said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
Oldest trick
“Using topical news stories to trick unwary computer users into opening and downloading malicious code is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it’s obviously still working or the hackers wouldn’t waste their time on it,” he said.
Out of the blue
He advised Internet users to use common sense and question the legitimacy of emails sent out of the blue.
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