Security firm Sophos has recently warned soccer fans about a new type of computer worm that can steal their personal information.
Sophos reported that the worm W32/Zasran-A is primarily distributed through emails written in German with the subject lines “WM-Tickets” or “Weltmeisterschaft”. The W32/Zasran-A worm has the ability to self-propagate by sending a copy of itself to every other address in the victim’s address book stored on their system.
The Zasran-A worm hides itself in the attachments of such emails. If the user opens this attachment, the worm will be activated, disable security firewalls, and open the door for hackers to steal information from their system or download additional malicious software.
Zasran-A is a worm linked to the second World Cup event discovered this May. This marks a new move in the ongoing “World Cup Virus Season,” coinciding with the global football festival.
Earlier, on May 4th, the Baden-Württemberg State Bureau of Criminal Investigation (LKA) discovered a virus spread through spoofed emails providing users with information about World Cup matches, but in reality, it dropped a dangerous Trojan on the user’s system.
Sophos warns users to be extremely cautious during this time as virus threats are increasingly taking advantage of the World Cup event.
However, the World Cup is also among a series of prominent social events exploited by hackers to attack users. This is a trend in the cybercrime world – a trend that leverages social motives, targeting the victims’ interests in events.
Hoàng Dũng
