Anti-virus (AV) experts are warning users of a virus hidden in a message purporting to contain compromising photographs of David Beckham.
Brett Myroff, CEO of local Sophos distributor Netxactics, says thousands of messages were posted on Internet message boards and Usenet newsgroups inviting the reader to click on a URL containing proof that the England football captain is having an affair.
"The messages point to a Web site where a file can be downloaded, purporting to contain photographs. In reality the file contains a Trojan, which can allow hackers to gain remote control of a computer."
The virus is a variant of the Hackarmy Trojan, and is a fairly standard Trojan in terms of the way it operates, says Myroff.
A typical infected message would read: "David Beckham of Real Madrid was caught by photographers with his pants down. Early in the morning he was photographed with a Spanish hooker in a rather compromising position. Photos yet to hit the newspapers have been released here. <url removed>"
The Trojan first surfaced yesterday and is proving fairly low key. Most AV vendors have given it a minimal threat rating, says Myroff. "There has yet to be a report of the Trojan locally and vendors are already making the patches available. I expect it to fade out soon."
While the Trojan may not prove to be destructive, the trend of hackers and virus writers using social engineering to spread malicious code is worrying, says Myroff.
"The Trojan is just the backdoor part of the virus. Hackers and virus writers will try all kinds of tricks to entice people into downloading their malicious code - now they are trying to suggest that England`s football captain David Beckham has been playing away from home."
Users are advised to avoid any unsolicited e-mail and to exercise normal precautionary AV measures.
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