Instant messaging clients are a well known area of security vulnerability and this article illustrates the latest threat. A multilingual “family” of worms, such as “IM-Worm.Win32.Zeroll” has been identified by Kaspersky Lab.
The malware acts by inserting itself into the target computer, finding the contact list of any IM client on the machine, and then sends out a message to every contact in the list. The infection is usually propagated when a user clicks on a hyperlink in an IM to what they believe to be an interesting picture.
As is the case with email, browser-based or other similar malware, malware is typically spread by some action on the intended victims’ part (by viewing or clicking on, or downloading something). There is hope in this fact. There is a measure of control that we as users have in preventing the spread of malware by being mindful of how we use our computers, what tools we choose, and what we click on.
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