McAfee Avert Labs has caught wind of a new malware worm that poses as a link to a YouTube video, which comes in HTML format through your email.
The link appears in an email, which looks to be coming from a friend. The email says:
"You can see your face right in the video. its all over the web dude. take a look, lol..."
The link provided seems to point to YouTube, but in actuality, the link goes to a numeric IP address, which directs to a site that, if executed, will run amuck on your computer. If the exploits fail to run, then a user could be enticed by the malware's messages encouraging a manual download. This isn't the first time we've seen a YouTube video used as the point of entry for malware. We just hope people are smart enough to not open emails or links from strangers, and won't keep trying to watch a video that's proposed as a YouTube video, but doesn't go to the YouTube site. Yahoo has also recently offered an update to prevent malware on its video feature for its Messenger tool.
[via avert labs]