TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN

PC security analysts are used to seeing criminals exploit trending news stories in order to create phishing email scams and Black Hat Search Engine Optimization schemes. Just in the first couple of months of 2012 criminals have already taken advantage of Whitney Houston's death in order to spread malicious files through scam emails. The TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN malware threat is a similar attack which is attempting to exploit the recent craze for notorious NBA superstar Jeremy Lin. This basketball player has created quite a lot of hype due to his incredible story, unlikely background, and sudden rise from the bench of the New York Knicks to a prominent role in today's NBA. Using this hype, criminals have started to distribute a Microsoft Office document titled 'The incredible story of Jeremy Lin the NBA new superstar.doc' which is detected as TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN by various security applications. This fake news story was first detected in February of 2012.

While DOC files are generally considered being safe, the TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN malware attack exploits a known security hole in Microsoft Office. This vulnerability, CVE-2010-3333, allows a criminal to install malicious files on the victim's computer. To ensure that the victim does not suspect the attack, the TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN malware attack actually contains a Word document with a basic story of Jeremy Lin, which allows criminals to install malware in the background without the victim's knowledge.

The TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN Attack May Be Being Used to Attack Human Rights Activists

The TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN attack seems to have the objective of installing spy Trojans on victims' computers. While most infected computers were found in former Soviet states and in Central Asia, ESG malware analysts have also found that similar attacks have also affected human rights activists fighting to free Tibet. Because of this, a possible source for this malware attack may be a covert operation by foreign countries or supporters of a particular political ideology. The TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN attack transmits certain information to its command and control server about the victim's computer, mainly the computer's host name, IP address, and other data.

With the information that is gathered using TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN, criminals behind this malware attack can pinpoint the location of the infected computer and track its activities. This same attack has been used in previous malicious email campaigns targeting computers in certain regions associated with human rights activism. According with ESG malware analysts it is probable that we will keep on seeing variants of the TROJ_ARTIEF.LIN corresponding to future trending news stories.