The FBI has been alerted to newly discovered malware. Malware is software designed to infiltrate or damage a computer system without the owner’s consent.
The identified malware lures victims to the website through a bogus text message sent to their cell phones. The message thanks recipients for subscribing to a dating service (which is fictitious) and indicates that a subscription fee of $2 per day will be automatically charged to their cell phone bills until their subscription is canceled at the online site.
Recipients visiting the site to cancel their subscription are redirected to a screen where they are prompted to enter their mobile phone number and then are given the option to run a program that is supposed to remove their subscription to the dating service.
When the run option is selected on the website, the executable adds several files to the host and changes registry settings to open a backdoor port and lower Windows security settings. The host file is modified to prevent the victim from browsing popular anti-virus websites. The executable also turns the infected computer into a "zombie" network, which can be remotely controlled by the hackers.
