It really does seem like the Malware/Spyware folks are really into making money nowdays, what with $15 spyware kits and Viruses that place your machine under lockdown until you pay the ransom..

What happened to people just doing stuff for learning, for enhancement of knowledge, deep understanding..not a quick few hundred dollars.

I have to say though targetting WoW users is a pretty smart and unique vector, as quite a lot of money does come from Virtual sources, selling level 60 characters, selling certain items, selling information and so on.

A new password-stealing Trojan targeting players of the popular online game “World of Warcraft” hopes to make money off secondary sales of gamer goods, a security company warned Tuesday.

MicroWorld, an Indian-based anti-virus and security software maker with offices in the U.S., Germany, and Malaysia, said that the PWS.Win32.WOW.x Trojan horse was spreading fast, and attacking World of Warcraft players.

The trojan spreads through the normal VB virus of the week vectors (email, network etc), but specifically targets WoW accounts.

The Trojan spreads via traditional vectors, such as e-mail and peer-to-peer file sharing, added Rammurthy, but it has also been watched while it installs in a drive-by download from gaming sites’ pop-up ads. The surreptitious installation is accomplished by exploiting various vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser.

Interesting to see what comes next..

Source: Information Week