Beware of fake SourceForge site offering malicious downloads

Cyber crooks have been misusing the reputation of the popular online source code repository SourceForge (sourceforge.net) and gave been pushing out malware from the sourceforgechile.net domain registered in the US earlier this month.

According to Zscaler researcher Julien Sobrier, one of the malicious files that could be downloaded from the fake SourceForge site is posing as a set of modifications for the popular Minecraft game – a considerable number of which actually exist on the legitimate repository page.

But this particular file – minecraft_1.3.2.exe – is actually malware closely related to the ZeroAccess Trojan, whose main goal is to hide itself on the infected computer, enslave it into a botnet, and surreptitiously click on online ads on the behalf of the computer owner and thus earn money for the botnet owner(s).

Users are always advised to download their software from reputable websites, but should also be careful and check whether the website URL is the correct one before starting any download.