New worm spoofs your AIM buddies
If your IM buddy is sending you a photo link through AOL Instant Messenger, you better check with them to make sure they really sent it. A new worm is spreading through AIM using spoofed addresses.
Gpic-AOL tries to dupe users into clicking on a malicious URL, Waltham, Mass.-based IM security firm IMlogic said in an advisory. The firm said Gpic-AOL spreads itself to all users on the AOL buddy list and sends the following message: "damn this looks just like me: lol." The message is followed by the bogus URL: http://pictures.google.com/common/pictures/user-097.JPG.
IT administrators can block the worm using the content filtering feature of IM Manager, IMlogic said. Administrators should also make sure they have the latest updates from their antivirus provider, the firm added.
As businesses become more dependent on instant messaging, attackers are spending more time targeting it with malicious code. In a recent report, the IMlogic Threat Center said instant messaging exploits in the first three months of 2005 surged more than 270% over the same period last year.
