US-Iran military malware attack found

A new malware attack has been identified which tries to trick users into downloading and installing malicious software via a spoof news report of a US army strike against Iran.

The spam messages, identified by IT security firm BitDefender, use a simple top banner with text outlining the 'attack' and a false picture of YouTube player inviting users to download the affected software.

Andra Miloiu, spam analyst at the company, said when the movie player is clicked on it presents a 'save image as' option.

"The new spam wave relies on computer users' curiosity regarding the conflict between the United States and Iran," she added

"Users are redirected to a fake news website, where they are shown a larger, inciting description accompanied by a movie player."

Earlier this week, Ben Camm-Jones, news editor of Web-User magazine, claimed malware is currently the biggest threat to global online security, as large numbers of cybercriminals are now able to hack into legitimate websites.