Hackers, like bank robbers, target the places where the data resides. This week, that place is Mop.com, one of the most heavily trafficked Web sites in the world.
As eSecurity Planet reports, the scam uses blackhat SEO techniques to inject malicious code that redirects users to Web sites that then attempt to steal or record users’ login and other personal information. The site is particularly popular with people who play the fantasy role-playing game World of Warcraft.
Mop.com is one of China’s most popular sites, attracting more than 200 million page views a day from some 50 million-plus registered users. Security pundits say entertainment and social networking sites will continue to be fertile fields for malware purveyors who look to take advantage of less sophisticated and, often, easily distracted Internet users.
At this point, it’s too early to say just how many people were suckered into divulging their login data. And, perhaps more troubling, it’s unclear yet exactly what the hackers plan (or have already begun) to do with the stolen information.
Online gamers around the globe have put on notice this week after security software researchers identified a sneaky malware ploy that’s been targeting the 50 million-plus registered users on the game channel of the Chinese entertainment Web site Mop.com.
According to a blog posting on Websense’s Security Labs site, hackers have used a blackhat SEO exploit that injects the site with malicious code by modifying a Javascript file references by the site.
Only visitors referred to the site via the popular Baidu.com search engine initially become infected.
