Botnet evolves to use "sextortion" threat to scam users

An old botnet has learned new tricks. It's leveraging our fear of privacy invasion via webcam to scam people with an email spam attack.

Cyber-security firm Check Point is detailing the latest evolution of the Phorpiex botnet (also known as Trik) into a sextortion attack. The attacking malware spams victims with emails claiming to have compromising videos of them and demanding payment or else the photos will be released into the wilds of the web.

According to Check Point, the Phorpiex bot downloads an email database from a command and control server, randomly selects an email address from the database, and sends its spam message to the address, claiming to have the victim's private data and a video of the victim "SATISFYING YOURSELF" via the victim's webcam. Read more...