Code Popping Up All Over

There have been many explanations for crop circles, many implying that they are some kind of code either created by or as a message to life in outer space. These days, I think I would rather deal with crop circle code than the type I have seen infecting people's computers.

Until today, the most recent "code" I had heard of was the "Media-Codec", associated with the securitypagenet.net. Today, I read about zCodec at CyberNews4You. That led me to do a bit of checking around. I discovered at Nick's Security Ticker that there is a difference in zCodec from the rogue programs like VirusRescue, SpywareQuake, and the like. As Nick wrote:

The trojan from Zcodec is a bit different. You won't get the warning ballon saying you have spyware. Instead, your search results will get redirected. If you go to Google and search for books, NY Times book review and Amazon.com are top results. Clicking on Amazon.com will be redirected to some other web site. Depending on what you are searching for, you might end up on a page that will put spyware on your computer.

Also, it seems that McAfee's SiteAdvisor hasn't figured out that zcodec.com is a bad site. Despite most people saying it is a bad site, it remains a green site.

Resources:

CyberNews4You: Rootkit Malware Packs Double Punch
Security Ticker: New Trojan Disguised As Cutting Edge Video Codec
Panda Software
TechWorld: zCodec promises video, delivers nasties