Experts warn of malicious Twitter spam

New spam poses as a Twitter password reset message

Security researchers are warning of yet another Twitter-related spam attack that attempts to install rogue anti-virus software on the victim's PC.

Websense Security Labs said in a blog post that the emails are designed to imitate a Twitter Password Reset Notification message.

The spam contains a link to a compromised web site that, when clicked on or pasted into the browser, prompts the user to download a malicious executable named 'password.exe'.

The executable turns out to be fake anti-virus software called Protection Center Safebrowser. It has been created to appear genuine by alerting the user that it has discovered malicious files on the desktop.

"What distinguishes this campaign from others is that it displays on your desktop some of the malicious files it installs," said Carl Leonard, senior research manager at Websense Security Labs.

"This makes the attack notification more believable. A business seriously needs to consider a solution that provides real-time security in order to mitigate the threat of the modern day cyber criminal."

Websense said that it has seen about 55,000 instances of this malicious spam email so far.