Malware writers spoof Firefox plug-in

[Barman58]

Malware writers spoof Firefox plug-in


A virulent new attack on Mozilla's Firefox browser is setting off alarms in the security world.
Researchers from BitDefender said that the new attack exploits a browser plug-in. The malware reportedly disguises itself as Greasemonkey, a plug-in which allows users to write and execute custom scripts to add or augment web page data.


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Malware writers spoof Firefox plug-in - vnunet.com

 

[stormy13]

Wonder if this one has an affect in FF on a Linux system?

 

[Barman58]

Hi Stormy,

Technically I think it could If it runs in the browser (as java) and looks for files on the disk (cookies?) containing banking information, and probably would not need any elevated privilege, It would be platform independent.

Of course I could be wrong, and I'm sure someone will inform me if I am :D but if my assumptions above are correct could well be a potential problem, especially as Linux users rarely protect against attacks as most are aimed at windows system files.

 

[stormy13]

That is my thinking as well. Just imagine the hand-wringing from the Linux camp if that turns out to be the case.

 

[Airbot]

I wonder if having having NoSpript picks up on this?

 

[Barman58]

It's an interesting point with the likes of MAC and Linux that If and When their market share increases to a certain level they will then gain the attention of the people ( or can I say Scum here) that write malware. It will maybe then show us if these other operating systems are as virus proof as they are purported to be. Hopefully they are as good as they think, I'm not someone who would like to see anyone suffer because of their personal choice of an OS, but only time will tell

 

[Barman58]

hi Airbot,

The thing is that NoScript will stop all script activity but if you think that you have installed a scripting application you are likely to allow its activity to work, therefore opening up the system to the spoof version of the application.

After all it's the way that a lot of malware gets onto a system it tricks the weakest link in the system, the human being, into letting it in, by pretending to be something that the user wants.

 

[Airbot]

Yeah, true. Now it disquises itself as the greasemonkey add on or a written script for it?

 

[dinesh]

May be firefox will be updated as a final release till the time the malware comes out.