December 2007
BitDefender Detects New Trojan that Hijacks Google Text Advertisements; Cuts into Google Revenues
BUCHAREST, Romania December 18, 2007 BitDefender®, a global provider of award-winning antivirus software and data security solutions, announced today that BitDefender antivirus analysts have detected a new trojan, which hijacks Google text advertisements, replacing them with ads from a different provider. The threat, which is identified by BitDefender as Trojan.Qhost.WU, modifies the infected computers' Hosts file (a local storage for domain name / IP address mappings, which is consulted before domain name servers and is considered authoritative).
The modified file contains a line redirecting the host "page2.googlesyndication.com" which should point to an IP of the form 6x.xxx.xxx.xxx to a different address, of the form 9x.xxx.xxx.xxx, so that the infected machines' browsers read ads from server at the replacement address rather than from Google.
"This is a serious situation that damages users and webmasters alike," said Attila-Mihaly Balazs, a BitDefender virus analyst. Users are affected because the advertisements and/or the linked sites may contain malicious code, which is a very likely situation, given that they are promoted using malware in the first place. Webmasters are affected because the trojan takes away viewers and thus a possible money source from their websites.
Users are advised to let BitDefender software delete the trojan. For further details on the ad-hijacking trojan, please visit BitDefenders Defense Portal site at: http://www.bitdefender.com/site/VirusInfo/realTimeReporting/.
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About BitDefender®
BitDefender is a leading global provider of security solutions that satisfy the protection requirements of today's computing environment. The company offers one of the industry's fastest and most effective lines of security software, setting new standards for threat prevention, timely detection and mitigation. BitDefender delivers products and services to over 41 million home and corporate users in more than 180 countries. BitDefender has offices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Romania. Further information about BitDefender can be obtained by visiting: http://www.bitdefender.com.
Sobre o Bitdefender®
O Bitdefender é criador de uma das linhas mais rápidas e eficazes e certificada internacionalmente de software de segurança para a internet. Desde 2011 a Bitdefender é pioneira na indústria, apresentando e desenvolvendo uma linha de proteção premiada. Hoje em dia, a tecnologia Bitdefender protege a experiência digital de 400 milhões de utilizadores domésticos e corporativos em todo o mundo.
Recentemente, a Bitdefender ganhou uma série de prêmios e elogios da indústria global de segurança, incluindo a "Editor’s Choice" da PC Mag pelo Bitdefender Antivirus Plus 2013 e o “GoldAward” da TopTenREVIEWS, que confirmaram a primeira posição do software entre os 25 produtos de segurança testados. A tecnologia do Bitdefender Antivirus também ficou em primeiro lugar nos testes mais reconhecidos da indústria, de ambos AV-Test e AV-Comparatives. Mais informações sobre os Bitdefender estão disponíveis na sala de imprensa das soluções de segurança da empresa. Além disso, a Bitdefender publica o blog HOTforSecurity, uma combinação escaldante de histórias picantes de segurança de computadores e visuais estimulantes, que destaca o submundo das fraudes, golpes e softwares maliciosos na internet - e fofocas.