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IE Used To Launch Yahoo IM Clickfraud
An anonymous reader writes, "There's a new Instant Messaging worm in the wild that is taking the idea of Botnet clickfraud up a level. It trades in automated drones (prone to malfunction and detection) for real live people who (of course) have the option of not actually clicking anything, thus theoretically making their clicks harder to identify as 'fraudulent.' This IM attack doesn't even need a victim to physically run anything to become infected — simply visiting a certain site in Internet Explorer will cause the files to download and start sending infection messages. At this point, their homepage is changed to a site using Mesothelioma (a rare form of cancer) to ring up high-paying results on the perpetrators' Google ads. As the researcher who discovered the infection notes, 'It's way, way harder to trace some random boob who has a ton of (partially) unconnected people shunting IM links all over the place. Try staying anonymous as a Botnet owner who just had the entire details of his server splattered across the net by Shadowserver. What will be interesting to see is if some of the smaller Botnet guys ditch their technical woes and jump on the much-easier-to-maintain IM bandwagon to get their clickfraud kicks.'"
Can someone translate the summary into English?
-- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
Seriously though, what the hell does that sentence mean?
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As history illustrates the litigation around this type of cancer can net high returns for lawyers and those seeking damages- however these cases are rare. Thus the cost-per-click (CPC) can range quite a bit on bidding networks seeking these large litigation rewards. The bids may range from $4.00 to $13.00 per click and higher. This makes it a prime target for malware authors and worm writers who setup systems to either force or set-up a system to maximize clicks to these high paying keywords in order to gain their fee split.
Maybe they'll be inspired to stop chasing ambulences -- or, in this case, sufferers of "a rare form of cancer (about 1 in 1,000,000)" -- and start chasing botnet operators.
Innovation makes enemies of all those who prospered under the old regime... -- Machiavelli
Without RTFA, and thus most likely wrong, but someone feeling right, I think that what's up is that it pops open an IE with links that are just begging to be clicked, and when you do, they get their money. Of course, the user may not actually click anything, but if they're like the lusers I've seen too much of, they'll go "huh, what's that" and cha-ching...
For those who didn't RTFA, here's another summary:
You get an infected Yahoo IM. In addition to propogating, it turns your IE home page into an ad-filled page. The ad page works like Google's adsense, only in this case instead of Google paying a legitimate web site when people click-through the ad, Google or some other company winds up paying the scammer or his cronies.
Because of the way it works it's a lot harder to detect than automated fraud or paid-human click fraud. Because the end user will likely click on the ad only if he's actually interested in it, the company that originated the ad might not even consider it fraud - he's just found a live potential client.
What makes it fraud is that the end user's web page has been hijacked. In other words - it's spyware/adware.
Workaround: Don't use IE, and use a malware-detector that detects and blocks Yahoo IM Malware.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
At this point, their homepage is changed to a site using Mesothelioma (a rare form of cancer) to ring up high-paying results on the perpetrators' Google ads.
WTF? This worm gives your computer cancer?
The theory of relativity doesn't work right in Arkansas.
Just another example of clever people taking advantage of anyone that is unfortunate enough to not know to click on unwanted popup things that ask them to click here, or enter your financial information etc.
The internet will not be safe, ever, because of those people. Yes, "click here to win a date with name-a-rising-star" will always find its way to someone that thinks there is some remote possibility that Bill Gates will pay you to forward emails, or that a music hall-of-famer needs a date from someone just like them. The human factor in security will always be the weakest link. ALWAYS.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
Good thing I'm using ICQ.
w00t
The exploit changes their homepage to some page with Google ads about mesotheleoma, and the bad guys get money from the clickfraud (people seeing impressions on an expensive Google keyword, most likely because liability lawyers are suing over it or something, and looking for people to join various class action suits where the lawyers can get big money).
A is paying B with the expectation that people genuinely interested in A's ad will click that ad. If C simulates clicks without even looking at the ad, A isn't getting his money's worth when he pays for his ads. Where the line between "users clicking ads without a genuine interest" and "programmatic click fraud" is drawn is still subjective, though.
For more information, click here.
The article is written so badly that's it's very hard to figure out the meaning. But this bit seems to describe the "entry point" to the infection:
Here, we have something different - an Instant Messaging attack launched by a webpage forcibly dumping executable files into a PCs temporary files directory, via some nifty VisualBasic scripting.
and further on:
So, how does this happen?
First of all, you need to hit an infection site using Internet Explorer - this exploit doesn't work in Firefox, for example. Due to the way these files are downloaded onto the PC, you can effectively make any site a potential threat and can scatter these files around wherever you like.
This sounds like a straight up "go to a web page and an arbitrary executable runs" attack. That would be a HUGE security hole in IE that has nothing to do with the rest of this issue. Not that it's never happened before, but I somehow doubt that this would be the first place we'd hear about it.
Does anyone that comes here on purpose us IE still
At work some of us are stuck with the corporate desktop environment which means IE. The IT department has done a pretty good job keeping it locked down. When they run the corporate proxy server, it's easier to get a handle on what doesn't make it in. They also use managed switches, so if a machine starts spewing, it gets disconnected. It tends to stop worms that try to scan for vuneribilities or other bot activities. Even the new version of Skype that used supernotes triggered the defences and dropped a bunch of machines while they tried to figure out the cause of the unusual data pattern.
Home users have no monitor that triggers and disconnects on unusual data patterns on the net.
The truth shall set you free!
So Microsoft is being used to make use of Yahoo! in trying to throw click fraud at Google.
Are we missing anyone?
Several years ago I disabled cookies in IE and found it broke YIM. I decided this made YIM a security risk and quickly switched to Trillian for all my IM need. I have NEVER regretted making this change.