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Blogs Latest Source of PC Infection

Posted by Zonk on from the watch-where-you-surf dept.

smooth wombat writes "The BBC has a story which indicates that filtering firm Websense believes at least 200 fake blogs are in existence which have malicious code that could infect your pc. Websense said it had seen examples of some computer criminals creating a legitimate looking weblog, loading it with keylogging software or viral code, and then sending out the address of it through instant messenger or spam e-mail. Websense warned that viruses hosted on weblogs might be a danger because they get round the filtering systems many firms have created to ensure malicious programs do not reach employees." From the article: "In separate cases some blogs were being used as storage lockers holding chunks of malicious code that the controller of a network of zombie machines wants those remotely-controlled computers to use."

11 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Suppression by tankenator · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Is this really the case, are is it yet another attempt by corporations to subtly supress their employee's reading habits???

    1. Re:Suppression by alnjmshntr · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I would say it's another attempt by Websense to sell more product. Haven't we seen this all before from Symantec/Mcafee et al, scaring the masses into buying their product?

      --
      If I had created the world I wouldn't have messed about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers
    2. Re:Suppression by justforaday · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Is this really the case, are is it yet another attempt by corporations to subtly supress their employee's reading habits???

      Well, being an employee of a company that uses WebSense's filtering product, there is absolutely nothing subtle about it. Hell, at one point linux.slashdot.org was blocked due to being a freeware/shareware distribution point (along with getfirefox.com - still blocked)! Of course this all comes down to how the company has set it up. And nevermind that our braindead IT department blocks webmail as a major security vector, but then has all of us running as admin, with improperly secured share points on many of the machines (earlier today I noticed that anyone can mount the C drive of the main gov't affairs machine here)...Alright, enough of my ranting for now. IE vulnerabilities grumble grumble grumble...

      --
      I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
    3. Re:Suppression by wfberg · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Websense is blocking too much and yet too little. Now, that's bad in all sorts of ways. If you're being blocked and think you shouldn't (blocking gay rights pages as porn etc.) you're being slandered basically. If you bought the product, it's giving you a false sense of security. That's all websense's doing.

      But in your case, unless you installed websense yourself, you're probably being forced by your employer into using it. That makes them the "fuckheads", not websense. If all companies would stop using websense, they'd go bankrupt, and the world would be a better place. So don't complain to websense, or other censorware vendors, complain to your fuckhead boss.

      --
      SCO employee? Check out the bounty
  2. Only 200? by Alibloke · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This doesn't seem to be a great deal of sites, after RTFA I now know there are around 8 million blogs and only 200 are infected.

    Personally I'll take my chances........

  3. Much Like Phishing by XFilesFMDS1013 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Only they use a fake webpage to install shit, rather then using a fake webpage to take your info. The ideas the same though, most people on the web (or at least those just on it for the blogs) don't really know the difference between what looks like a professional page, and what IS a professional page. More wide spread education about the dangers of what can be found on the internet really needs to happen.

  4. .0025%? by mwkaufman · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So there are 200 fake blogs among 8,000,000 that were drawn up with malicious code and this is a story? I'm sure there are far more websites out there that aren't blogs with malicious code. All it comes down is protecting your computer the way you prevent anything bad from happening, by not being stupid about it. 200 is a drop in the bucket when it comes to the blogging community.

  5. 'warning... by hostylocal · · Score: 1, Interesting

    there are sites on the internet that are _bad_!' well done. must have had some spare budget sitting around doing nothing. no, seriously - next you'll be telling us that google is watching us or those kind blokes in nigeria are lying to us too! sheesh. bloggers are getting it in the neck at the minute - americans want to censor blogs, even tho they haven't read one, people who blog about work get sacked and now they're remotely installing keglogging software onto pcs. where will it end?

  6. Competition anyone? by BKuhl · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Let see... The mainstream news is reporting "Don't go read the blogs or your PC will crash and burn." Does anyone else find it curious that blogs are one of the more potent competitors the the mainstream news in recent time?
    They couldn't be trying to discredit the competition?

  7. Re:Blogs or websites? by daveschroeder · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Because apparently everything is a blog now, when it's convenient.

    For example, we used to call Think Secret and AppleInsider "news web sites" or "mac rumor sites". Apparently they're now "blogs".

    And yes, I realize that a "blog" IS a "web site", but my point is, aren't we going a little overboard on calling things "blogs"? Think Secret only started being a blog when people wanted to trumpet the cause of "blogger's rights" and thought it was some huge case about free speech and whether bloggers can be considered "journalists".

    Unfortunately, it backfired, because the judge acknowledged that bloggers CAN INDEED be journalists, and they also have the same free speech and press rights as anyone else. But they also can't obtain information in violation of existing statutes.

  8. Re:Blogs or websites? by arodland · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It's just a bunch of gobbledygook. "Storage lockers"? Um, yeah. Blogs having some special property that renders virus scanners inoperative? Not last time I checked. Really, I don't see any sense in the whole thing besides "hey guys, there's some adware and stuff on blogs now." "hey, thanks for the heads-up, I guess that had to happen eventually."