Webmasters face hack attack

The discovery of a proof of concept virus has prompted security experts to warn that the popular Shockwave website animation tool may be the next virus carrier.

According to Sophos, it is the first ever virus to spread via Shockwave Flash files. Although not yet in the wild, it is only a matter of time before malicious websites pose a new threat.

The LFM-926 virus could be used to target webmasters who use Shockwave on their sites, or viewers of a maliciously crafted page.

Once the Shockwave file is downloaded and run on the end user's computer, it displays the message: 'Loading.Flash.Movie...' and then infects every other .swf file in the directory.

"Computer users visiting snazzy sites would get more than they bargained for if they downloaded this virus," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant for Sophos.

It appears that the virus simply spreads itself to similar file types, but future variants may hold a more harmful payload as virus authors make use of Shockwave's ability to run scripts.

It is recommended that administrators add the .swf extension to the list of files to be scanned or blocked on the network.

Virus signatures should either be available now or in the near future from your relevant antivirus site.