....a strange error message that mentions "photos" (probably fake), followed by lots of real error messages as most of your desktop fails, leaving you with an entirely blank screen:

From this point onwards, the PC will likely need a reboot and will be sluggish until cleaned up, constantly throwing out error messages, crashing when attempting to open Windows Explorer etc.

Now, given that the infection links are being passed around via IM Away messages, there was always going to be the possibility of an Instant Messaging worm attack. However, a lot of testing has taken place and so far, we haven't seen any malicious messages or URLs sent via AIM or MSN Messenger.

That's no reason to get complacent though, because what we have seen taking place is possibly quite a bit worse. First of all, a number of hidden files are dropped onto the PC, including Rootkit technology (which the bad guys have helpfully pointed out in the code):



Worse, your PC is deposited into a Botnet of Turkish origin - here's the giveaway traffic stream via an Ethereal log:



....awaiting further instructions from the Botnet C&C center. This particular Botnet has been around since March of this year. The Turkish connection is interesting, because I haven't seen too many Turkish Botnets - and there's been quite a surge in hacking activity from Turkey recently (most notably the DNS attacks on Photobucket and ICAAN by NeTDevilz).

Finally, the infection drops a number of other files onto the PC besides the Rootkit, which are seemingly related to a new variant of this Chinese infection.

It's worth noting that there may only be Instant Messaging infection links sent out if the person running the Botnet Command Center decides to issue all the drones with such a command - so while we haven't seen any IM infection activity, it would be wise not to rule it out completely. We recommend infected users keep an eye on all Instant Messaging activity until they can clean the infection from their computer, just in case.

Whoever is responsible for these messages has changed them a couple of times already - last night, the download link had been updated to look like this:



...and it currently advertises a link for a dating website:



We've reported all links related to this attack, and at least two of the files claiming to be "exclusive Simpsons episodes" are currently offline, though there's bound to be more out there. For now, this is a good reminder to be cautious when randomly adding cool things seen on TV and film to your online applications - you can't always assume the person at the other end is entirely in control.

We detect this as Kimya.

Additional Research: Chris Mannon, FSL Senior Threat Researcher
Deepak Setty, FSL Senior Threat Research Engineer