BUCHAREST, Romania -- BitDefender®, a global provider of award-winning antivirus software and data security solutions, announced today that BitDefender antivirus analysts have detected a new spam botnet, which directs users to a malware-hosting site by offering explicit videos of celebrities such as Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
The e-mails use Google search result links such as http://www.google.com/pagead/iclk?sa=l&ai=trailhead&num=69803&adurl=http://******.com instead of the actual http://www.******.com links in an attempt to circumvent url-based spam filters.
Once downloaded and executed, the malicious downloader, dubbed by BitDefender analysts Trojan.Downloader.Exchange.A, downloads and executes more rootkit/spambot malware, which spams users with links to the trojan downloader.
The malware is hosted on a server in an IP block which belongs to the RBN (Russian Business Network), a company which has a reputation as a safe haven of spammers and malware authors worldwide.
"BitDefender has detected an increased overlap between spammers and malware authors, a veritable vicious circle where spam is used to spread malware which in turn spreads more spam,” said BitDefender Head of AntiVirus Research, Sorin Dudea. “Fighting one is fighting the other too."