A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | Encyclopedia Home
Also see: Hoax Encyclopedia | Repair Center | News Briefs | Glossary | Infected Attachments | Prevention Center
|
AOL4FREE
According to reports from F-Secure, AOL4FREE exhibits the following characteristics:
Type: Trojan (also can be a hoax or a real program: see description below)
Aliases: A4F-Spoof
Systems Affected: PC's
Payload: Yes
ITW: No
Origin:
Description: This is part hoax, part reality. First, there is a Macintosh program named aol4free (note, it does not carry the filename aol4free.com)Second, there is hoax generated that stated aol4free deleted files on users hard drives. Finally, there is a Trojan by the same name, which has been dubbed A4F-Spoof by the antivirus vendors to avoid confusion. (The assumption is that hoax was a spin-off of the Mac program, and the Trojan a spin-off of the hoax). In any event, hoax messages are text email only, whereas any attached executable has the potential to be infected. The Trojan, As4-Spoof, runs the DOS DELTREE command in to delete all files from a user's system.
How to prevent it: Beware of any executable attachments in email, even from known sources. Save and scan all files for malicious content before executing them. As with any Trojan, the method of disinfection is to simply delete the offending file.
