MicroWorld Technologies caution computer users against probable infection of a Trojan named ‘Win32.StartPage.jo’ while visiting dubious websites or downloading freebies from untrustworthy sources on the net. According to MicroWorld, Win32.StartPage.jo changes Internet settings on the affected computer. The default home page in Internet Explorer is changed to www.find-online.net. It also adds a range of porn sites and bogus drug sites in the favourites folder and makes changes in the Windows registry to activate the Trojan at the system start-up.
“This Trojan can impede your Internet activity by popping up pornographic content every now and then,” said Vikas Vishwasrao, assistant manager, R&D, MicroWorld. Porno-Trojans can lead an infected computer to child pornographic sites, accessing which is a criminal offense in many countries. Court may indict an under-trial for no fault of his, based on the evidence of websites prompted by the malware, found in the browsing history.
Malware that brings unwanted pornographic pop-ups is an old and well-documented trend, but this is the first I’d heard of it bringing up child pornography. I bet defense attorneys will start using “it was the Trojan horse program” as a defense in child pornography cases.
Filed under: Malicious Websites
