LizaMoon SQL Injection Attack Hits Websites

The scareware sends users to a bogus Web page warning them that their PCs are infected with malware and tries to sell them an anti-virus application.




Hundreds of thousands of website URLs have been compromised in a massive malware attack that tries to trick people into buying fake anti-virus software to remove bogus infections, security experts said.

Dubbed LizaMoon, unidentified perpetrators of the scareware campaign inject script into legitimate URLs, so when people try to access the website, they get redirected to a page warning them that their PCs are infected with malware that can be removed by downloading a free AV application called Windows Stability Center. The software eventually will find bogus threats that will require victims to buy a more robust product, using their credit cards.

Security firm Websense says a Google search shows more than 1.5 million URLs with the nasty script. Because Google counts unique URLs and not domains or websites, the number is likely inflated. "It's safe to say it's in the hundreds of thousands," Websense said Thursday in a blog post. The attack is worldwide, with U.S. PC users making up roughly half those getting redirected to the bogus warning page.

LizaMoon, named after the first domain Websense discovered with the malicious script March 29, is believed to be a SQL injection, which is when hackers get their script into a Microsoft SQL Server database that then adds it to a site's URL. SQL injections is one of the most common forms of attacking Web sites and back end databases.