Rare Malware Only Targets Firefox
Posted 12/04/08 at 03:56:56 PM | by Paul Lilly
One of the advantages with Firefox that has helped it move up in market share is the perception of a more secure browser over Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Whether or not IE has managed to level the security playing field is a topic for another post, but there's at least one new piece of malware specifically designed to go after just Firefox users.
Researchers at BitDefender discovered the nasty piece of code, which they're calling Trojan.PWS.Chromelnject.A. According to Viorel Canja, the head of BitDefender's lab, the new malware resides in Firefox's add-ons folder and uses JavaScript to harvest financial information.
"Trojan.PWS.ChromeInject.A filters data sent by the user to over 100 online banking websites," BitDefender warned in a press release. "The banking websites include: bankofamerica.com, chase.com, halifax-online.co.uk, wachovia.com, paypal.com, and e-gold.com."
One the malware identifies one of the websites, it records the user's login information and forwards it along to a server in Russia, and not for safe keeping.
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i know that
Submitted by Dow on Fri, 2008-12-05 10:40
i know that it wont protect firefox but i know now since i only trust noscript and weatherbug and web of trust (WOT) those are the only things i trust for firefox and the only things i will use
Submitted by Dow on Fri, 2008-12-05 10:37
That is why i am happy with threatfire i havent scanned in months and when i finally scan i have not even a single virus
Simple fact is that once
Submitted by I Jedi on Thu, 2008-12-04 23:39
Simple fact is that once something becomes popular in the computer world. E.g. Apple's OS. You're going to see an increase in malicious software being created for these specific programs/OS. It's a no brainer right there and if you think about it, Firefox, like Apple, was a program not as widely used a few years ago, while other OSs/programs, like WinXP and I.E. we're thriving and huge, but yet had more malicious software being developed for it.
Submitted by narajahan on Thu, 2008-12-04 19:38
I'm more interested in this list of banks affected
Submitted by winmaster on Thu, 2008-12-04 19:00
Microsoft has formed an alliance with criminals perhaps? First Apple tells Mac users to install antivirus and now Firefox has its own virus. Sounds kind of fishy to me. Maybe Mozilla is finally starting to scare Microsoft.
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
It's... It's... It's a CONSPIRACY!
Submitted by jwalch.hawk on Thu, 2008-12-04 23:21
Dude, totally! And Microsoft also paid Google to make their own browser to steal from the Mozilla niche (since generally speaking more Firefox users were likely to give Chrome a whirl than IE users would be).
It all makes sense now! You've enlightened me!
Submitted by winmaster on Mon, 2008-12-29 09:46
I'm glad to have enlightened you, but I don't think Microsoft paid Google to make their own web browser. Microsoft and Google hate each other and Chrome is just another browser thats better than IE.
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The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
Submitted by knexkid on Thu, 2008-12-04 15:54
I know Firefox is gaining in popularity, but it still only has like 20% of the market share. IE still leads that pack. Plus, I would be willing to guess that the majority of firefox users are more computer savy people (I would be willing to bet the majority of people on this site use firefox...). Firefox users are probably more likely to have the knowledge and tools to prevent maleware from infecting in the first place, and what to do if you do get infected.
Submitted by xs0u1x on Thu, 2008-12-04 15:23
thats why i dont do online banking/bill paying.
inevitably, when more users start heading over to firefox, more malware will come their way. it just works that way.
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