The first widespread attack to leverage a recently patched flaw in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser has surfaced. Starting late Wednesday, researchers began spotting dozens of Web sites that contain the Internet Explorer attack, which works reliably on the IE 6 browser, running on Windows XP. The attack installs a Trojan horse program that is able to bypass some security products and then give hackers access to the system, said Joshua Talbot, a security intelligence manager with Symantec. Once it has infected a PC, the Trojan sends a notification e-mail to the attackers, using a U.S.-based, free e-mail service.
On Thursday, Websense published some sample e-mails used in targeted attacks that exploit the IE bug. A typical subject line is “Helping You Serve Your Customers.” The e-mail reads, “I just heard the news: Helping you serve your customers” and includes a link to the malicious Web site.
