Jan 21, 2009 10:20 AM
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Opportunistic bastards that they are, malware writers are latching onto the national zeitgeist—that is, Obama's 82 percent approval rating—by launching fake Obama news blogs that try to get you to download nastyware like Barack.exe.
They're easy to spot, thankfully, since their prose ain't exactly up to CNN standards—though perhaps not a bad emulation of the some of the froth from some crazy right-wing messaging boards whose denizens are based deep in the heart of Appalachia: "Barack Obama's inauguration that was planned on 20th January 2009 is under the threat of failure. On the Eve of Inauguration President elect Obama made statement. He declared that he is definitely NOT ready for this position."
According to TrendLabs' Malware Blog, the files these sites try to get you to download, like barack.exe and baracknews.exe, are really from the WORM_WALEDAC malware family. Some of the stuff they've detected are: WORM_WALEDAC.KAX, WORM_WALEDAC.AE, WORM_WALEDAC.AH, WORM_WALEDAC.AG to name a few. In other words, nasty stuff.
So stick to the Obama superfan or haterade sites you know and trust to keep you in your bubble, and if you do venture out into the wild, don't download anything. [Trendabs via Download Squad - Thanks Cody!]
Send an email to matt buchanan, the author of this post, at matt@gizmodo.com.
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