Here’s some bad news for Skype users based in India. The popular VoIP service is experiencing spam attacks, so please take necessary caution when using this service. The government has also issued an advisory regarding the “malicious spam campaign” which targets users by sending IMs that appear to have come from their friends’ list. According to the government’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the malware can take over control of the user’s system by a backdoor channel and communicate sensitive information to a remote http server. This makes the malware capable of stealing personal details for use in fraudulent activities and also acting as ransomware. The advisory goes on to request users to avoid clicking on unsolicited web links or attachments received via IM on Skype and install necessary security updates to the software. Also, ensure that your anti-virus system is up to date and active. This is not the first incident to occur on Skype. A few weeks ago, users experienced ransomware starting with a message “lol is this your new profile pic?” This message was accompanied by a link that downloaded malware into the system. This link leads to a file locker system and lets the attacker access all sorts of information from a user’s computer, including passwords to various accounts as well as the power to launch DDoS attacks.
