Photobucket AntivirusLab2009
Photobucket Spoof Phishing Email Virus
PHOTOBUCKET
Hi all, wanted to write in today and post a brief warning to many of the online users who utilize the widely popular and highly used online photo hosting service "Photobucket". I am going to TRY to summarize this, it's way more elaborate than I have time to write describing everything in detail.
Photobucket Spoof Email and Phishing is Occurring
My first experience and sign of trouble was a couple months ago (on my prior PC) with an email notification I received, purportedly from Photobucket, telling me that I had "1 new comment" in a photo in one of my Photobucket albums. Well it was late and I was tired and decided to follow the link in the email. Afterall, it even appeared to be a Photobucket URL. Well, that was a mistake. I "logged in" and was taken to the image with the comment. My new admirer's comment was "Wow". How about that, another lazy typist.
Anyway, well the page that looked like mine----in reality seemed to be a duplicate of my main album, but with many account functions not working correctly and some settings I could no longer change or control. Why? Because it wasn't my account. Evidently it was a Phishing email I received, asking me to log in to access my real and legitimate account, which only gave someone somewhere access to my real account log in information. I can't imagine why someone doesn't have better things to do than screw with someone's photo albums. It's not like there's any financial information or anything valuable to be gained, unless it was a purely spiteful or malicious act on behalf of an individual who has some real inadequacy issues.
I went back and logged in via my own desktop link, to my own real account, and had to change all access permissions while I still could. I had to lock all my albums and photos, eliminate link URL viewing, close all public viewing and guest book comments, not to mention change my password yet again. Through a whole process I submitted information to Photobucket security to provide what headers and other data I could, in the hopes of helping them further identify what happened and from who.
Visiting the Photobucket Website Itself Exposes You to Virus
Now today. Logged into my account and went to post a photo from my account here online. For some reason, the photos wouldn't display or link. Then I found out why. I suddenly got the pop up prompt box message:
"WARNING!!!!! Your computer is infected! Windows has detected spyware infection . . ."
Now most of us know that in all actuality that is the prompt box for downloading a family of malicious programs known by several names like "AntivirusLab2009" and other similar designations, which usually allow entry of a couple of Trojans and other code which begin to immediately harm your files. If you try and click "cancel" or click the red x "close" button, they are dummy buttons and you in-effect just gave the program permission to download, and you're then totally infected and the damage begins.
I'd strongly recommend staying away from Photobucket for a while. I preemptively killed the process right at the prompt box, fortunately for me. Then to be sure, had to flush and overwrite everything in my system clearly as a preventative measure, and decided to change all my online account passwords. And of course I ran a couple of scans for extra measure. Like said, I did all that and didn't even download the thing. But after it was "safe to come out" I decided to Google "Photobucket Virus" and "Photobucket Virus 2010", and I see many many others who have reported this in the past and are now again reporting it this month. I'd be very careful and ignore your "emails" from Photobucket altogether. Also simply logging in will expose you to the virus, and if you perhaps don't have maximum safeguards in place-----you might not be prompted at all and it might simply download automatically.
I've read but can't verify that the program caught tries to immediately capture your cookies including your saved passwords, which are used to access your legitimate online accounts, anywhere you might have logged into is stored on your PC. I hear the current "Photobucket Virus" is similar to the ones that have circulated around MySpace, under the same routines of via email under "you have new comment" or after login comes infection. Many website administrators are recommending users not to attempt to access the Photobucket website itself, and of course not go ever further to actually login.
Google "Photobucket Virus" and "Photobucket Virus 2010" if any of you Photobucket Members have any doubts or questions. Do what you want or what you think is safe, but wanted to post this to help someone avoid a hidden threat from a popular website many of us like to use.
