Malware Spreading Via ... Windshield Fliers?

wiedzmin writes "Another interesting article published by the SANS ISC Handler's Diary is describing a very unusual vector for malware distribution — windshield fliers and fake parking tickets. A website URL provided for "disputing a ticket" actually leads to a malicious website, and a "toolbar" required to find the photo of your violation is, you guessed it, a trojan posing as a fake antivirus. The best part is — according to the VirusTotal report, it doesn't look like most antiviruses have signatures for this one yet."

Comments

Neat but..

[Dyinobal]

As clever as this is it seems like catching the person or persons putting these on wind shields would be simple enough.

Re:Neat but..

[Captain Spam]

Knowing at least one area in which windshield fliers are prevalent (college towns), chances are pretty high you'd be going ballistic over some poor college kid who just needed some cash and wasn't told what these fliers were for, not a malicious malware author/user hiding in an apartment somewhere while his freshly-hired lackeys unwittingly do his bidding.

So unfortunately, catching the guy distributing the fliers wouldn't do you any good, unless you're really THAT upset with the practice of windshield fliering in the first place.

The fake parking tickets, though, those are probably illegal in and of themselves, and the lackey distributing them would have to at least SEE what they are and thus be complicit in the activity, so they probably have some other manner of disguising themselves (official-looking police uniform, etc) so nobody questions them. Unless the REAL cops come by.

Re:A virus I'd actually fall for

[Hyppy]

it still fails to computer literate common sense, "why would i need to install something to..."

Flash. Silverlight. Java. Adobe Reader. Windows Update controls.

People are getting used to installing applications to interact with "trusted" parties.