That pesky Storm email malware keeps popping up, despite Microsoft’s boasts a few months ago that it had finally killed off Storm. The latest Trojan uses a wide variety of Subject Lines to entice you to open the email.

The spam email contains a link to a fake porno site. If you click the link, a popup asks for permission to install an ActiveX control to watch the porn. Of course, it is not an control at all, but the Storm . It appears that over 8 million of these spam messages were sent out.

ActiveX controls are small programs in Windows that provide functionality to Web sites. They have been the target of malicious attack, because they give direct access to Windows.

If you accept the “ActiveX” control, will usually try to hijack your computer and enlist it into a , or network of compromised computers remotely controlled by a hacker. The hacker uses the network, or rents it out to other criminals, to send out more spam or other scams.

As always, don’t open spam email, and above all do not click on links inside these emails.

Syd Tash is a noted computer security consultant and author of How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of protection right here: = > http://MyPCSecuritySite.com

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