Tech Shout!

Phishers are using a fictional Google brand to launch a three-pronged malware assault on users’ PCs. The phishing e-mail, which contains a realistic Google logo, but with the two “o”s replaced with blue Viagra pills, was spotted by the Internet security firm Surf Control’s threat centre.

“If a user clicks on the link contained in the e-mail, they are sent to a Web site that drops two relatively harmless Trojan horse programs on their PC. However, although the programs do not do much on their own, when combined they could be lethal,” quoted a company official.

As for the looks of the email, the first Trojan slightly changes the PC’s security while the second Trojan hijacks the browser and redirects the user to another Web site. When the user reaches the second Web site, the hole created by the first Trojan is exploited by a virus and the user’s PC is infected.

This is a technique being used by the malware writers. If the first Trojan is full of malicious code then it gets shut down straight away. Instead, it redirects you to another site and that is where the viruses are.

The attack comes a week after the search giant’s arch rival Microsoft was used in a phishing scam that attempted to fool users into installing a fake patch for Windows.