Online videos may be conduits for viruses

Online videos account for a huge amount of the traffic on the Internet, but they're also becoming one of the best conduits for malicious code that can infect your computer.

As anti-spam technology improves, hackers are finding new vehicles to deliver their viruses, with some being embedded in online video players, according to a new report from the Georgia Tech Information Security Center.

E-mail scams, once the prominent form of hacking infecting users, have become somewhat ineffective as the average computer user gets wise to their dangers. That's forced hackers to change their tune, moving from sending their spam in text-based messages to more devious means, embedding them in images or PDF files.



"The next logical step seems to be the media players," said Chris Rouland, the chief technology officer for IBM Corp.'s Internet Security Systems unit, though there have only been a few cases of video-related hacking to date.

One such worm was discovered in November 2006 and launches a corrupt Web site without prompting after a user opens a media file. Another program silently installs spyware when a video file is opened. Attackers have also tried to spread fake video links via postings on YouTube.

"People are accustomed to not clicking on messages from banks, but they all want to see videos from YouTube," Rouland said.