Miscreants are taking advantage of the international attention focused on protests in Burma to spread malware.

Emails claiming to be a message of support for monks and other protesters in Burma from the Dalai Lama contain a malicious attachment that attempts to use software exploits to install malware onto victims' PCs.

A sample message:

Dear Friends & Colleagues, Please find enclosed a massage from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in support of the recent pro democracy demonstrations taking place in Burma. This is for your information and can be distributed as you see fit.

Best wishes.

Tenzin Taklha Joint Secretary Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama

The attachment contains a document (filename: hhdl burma_001.doc) that attempts to exploit a Word vulnerability by downloading a Trojan horse, called Agent-CGU, onto victims' PC. To enhance credibility, a link to the official website of the Dalai Lama is included.

Exploiting interest in topical news is a perennial favourite with hackers. No human tragedy these days is complete without accompanying malware attacks. Past malware and spam campaigns have taken advantage of headline breaking news stories such as Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean tsunami, the Concorde aircrash, and terror bombings in London. ®

Related stories

Chinese earthquake hack scammer jailed (14 July 2008)
Hackers exploit China earthquake to punt Trojan (22 May 2008)
Pondlife earthquake scammers go mobile (20 May 2008)
Bhutto murder used to spread malware (28 December 2007)
Online scammers exploit California wildfire disaster (29 October 2007)
Burmese cops in UN hard drive snatch kerfuffle (10 October 2007)
Junta downs Burma's only ISP (28 September 2007)
Note to despots: You can't kill the internet (27 September 2007)
Scumbag malware authors exploit Virginia Tech tragedy (19 April 2007)
Inboxes battered by Trojan spam deluge (19 January 2007)
Florida man indicted over Katrina phishing scam (18 August 2006)
Katrina web scammer arrested (4 October 2005)
Hacktivists own Myanmar govt. site (3 August 2000)