Skype Worm Appears in APAC

December 20th, 2006: Websense and Symantec both sent out warnings this week of a new virus spreading via Skype.

Appearing inside a text chat message sent to Skype users the worm, named Chatosky by Symantec, installs a Trojan to pilfer passwords before resending itself to other Skype contacts.

A user will be sent a file called sp.exe via chat which begins the infection if clicked. Apart from stealing passwords and forwarding itself on, the worm also reportedly tries to connect to a remote server to send off additional information.

The number of infections has not been reported yet, however, according to Websense the malware originated in Asia Pacific, possibly Korea, as this is where the majority of infections are popping up.

Third party applications are proving to quite fruitful for hackers searching for security vulnerabilities. Attacks via third party software vectors are increasing by the day, and as more and more software is seeking internet access for functionality, plugging security holes is only going to get tougher.

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