Michael Jackson Suicide E-mail is a Front for a Virus

A British computer security firm is warning computer users about a Trojan horse virus that's hiding in a spam e-mail. The message in the e-mail claims that the "King of Pop" attemped suicide today.
The e-mail message - which is written in poor English - can be identified by its subject line, "Re: Suicidal aattempt." The e-mail attempts to get users to click on a link to a Web site with more information about Michael Jackson's supposed suicide attempt. In reality, the link will download a virus onto the computer.

The rest of the message reads: "Last night, while in his Neverland Ranch, Michael Jackson has made a suicidal attempt. They suggest this attempt follows the last claim was made against the king of pop. 46 years old Michael has left pre-suicid note which describes and interpretes some of his sins. Read more..."

Earlier today, the computer security company Sophos posted a warning on their Web site after encountering hundreds of the spam messages. The Trojan program has been identified as Troj/Borobt-Gen - which quickly installs malware onto the infected computer through a flaw in Internet Explorer. Security patches are available to protect against this IE vunerability.

"If you click on the link, the website displays a message saying it is too busy, which may not surprise people who think it might contain genuine breaking news about Michael Jackson," reads the warning.

"However, this is a diversionary tactic -- because behind the scenes the website is downloading malware onto the user's computer without their knowledge."

The use of breaking news and celebrity names is becoming a common way to fool people into opening virus-infected e-mails.

"The sick minds behind viruses and other malware often exploit celebrity names and news stories in an attempt to infect as many people as possible," security consultant at Sophos Carole Theriault said.

"All computer users should be very careful about clicking on weblinks in unsolicited email or launching unknown attachments."