Want to spy others’ SMS? Be ready to become a zombie botnet

Internet subscribers are being tricked into using the so-called ‘spy application’ that allegedly allows them to read other people’s SMS messages online. Such a utility in fact is nothing else but a new version of the infamous Waledac botnet client, reports the Register.

The quasi-spying software comes to the users mailboxes under various filenames such as sms.exe, freetrial.exe, and smstrap.exe. But as the experts determined these files actually contain a variant of the Waledac malware. At the moment anti-virus vendors are developing proper tools to address the threat posed by such spam emails delivering the malware. The junk mail circulation started Wednesday though detection remains incomplete by Thursday afternoon.

Interestingly, the scheme plays on human curiosity and while Internet users think that they will be able to eavesdrop others they are actually turning into the ones who are spied upon.

"They are playing on people's nosey or suspicious nature, however the application doesn’t give the user the ability to spy on other people's SMS messages," said Carl Leonard, threat research manager at Websense. "Instead it installs a number of executable files to incorporate the user’s machine into Waledac's botnet. The irony is quite fitting, the user intended to spy on others but ends up being compromised themselves."

Currently security watchers are paying close attention to Waledac, says the Register.